140L6424Q0026_Questions_Answers_0001.pdf

United States Department of the Interior

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Arizona State Office One North Central Avenue, Suite 800

Phoenix, AZ 85004-4427 www.az.blm.gov

140L6424Q0026_Amendment 01 Yucca Ash Mesquite Thinning 24

Questions & Answers

The purpose of this amendment is to respond to questions received during the solicitation period.

Question 1: Is there a limit on size of excavator that you would allow for the work? We use excavators that weigh around 56,000 lbs. for Mesquite grubbing because that weight helps pull the roots out. Smaller machines have trouble on larger shrubs. These larger machines use a larger bucket and thumb. Would that be permitted?

Answer 1: The only limits that we have identified is ensuring that the equipment used to complete the grubbing has the required amount of horsepower and digging force (crowd and bucket) and the narrowest bucket possible for the size of the equipment. The statement of work outlines the minimum requirements of the equipment needed to complete the grubbing treatment. The statement of work also outlines the backfilling of the holes or disturbed ground following removal of the mesquite tree.

Question 2: Are the pink shaded non treated areas included in the payable total or are they taken out?

Answer 2: Due to the small size of the leave areas, we have not changed the project footprint acreage.

No work will be completed within the leave areas but utilize the 988-acre project footprint when calculating the cost per acre in your proposed cost estimate.

Question 3: There are several very steep hillsides included. Is there a limit on slope to be treated?

Answer 3: We will coordinate with the awarded vendor on the areas within the treatment unit that have slope. We have not identified a slope limit for this project, but we will work with the vendor upon award once we know what type of equipment is being utilized, to ensure that operations are completed in a safe and effective manner. If, through this process, an area is deemed to be unsafe to work due to slope, erosion, or other topographic features we will buffer the area identified. Historically these areas have been of a very small acreage that no changes to the contract have been sought. We will lean on the side of safety during implementation. Attached is a geo-referenced topo map of the unit.

Question 4: Is there a minimum or maximum size of windrow to be created with the material or any rules about where or how to build them?

Answer 4: The standard we use is for the equipment to work in a grid pattern through the unit and windrow the slash on one side or the other of each pass through the unit. Example: If an excavator has an operating arc of 30 ft, the excavator will work in a grid pattern through the unit grubbing everything within the 30ft arc. Each pass will have a windrow of slash alongside each pass through the unit. We do not require any extra manipulation

United States Department of the Interior

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Arizona State Office One North Central Avenue, Suite 800

Phoenix, AZ 85004-4427 www.az.blm.gov

(compacting, combining, moving, etc.) of the windrows. We do ask that they not be placed right along fence lines, right along the edge of roadways, or right on any leave trees within the unit.

Question 5: Will it be possible to keep a thousand-gallon fuel tank on site or nearby on BLM land for fuel delivery. We also prefer to have at least one person camp on site with the fuel tank and equipment to keep watch. Would that be permitted?

Answer 5: We do not allow for storage of fuel on site (within the treatment unit), but we will allow for the fuel storage container to be stored at our BLM wareyard, which is near the Empire Ranch Headquarters behind a locked gate. The fuel storage tank will need to have secondary containment as a part of the container or include the tank being stored within a secondary containment system. Camping at the wareyard or in the project site will not be allowed. See attached geo-referenced map for location of the BLM wareyard.

E Yucca Ash Farm Rd

C u rl y H o rs e R a n c h R d

E Y u cca

As h Farm Rd

Esri Community Maps Contributors, CONANP, Esri, TomTom, Garmin, Foursquare, SafeGraph, GeoTechnologies, Inc, METI/NASA, USGS, Bureau of

Land Management, EPA, NPS, US Census Bureau, USDA, USFWS

² Yucca Ash Mesquite Treatment Topo

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Yucca Ash Mesquite Thin 24

Yucca Ash Leave Areas

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CONANP, Esri, TomTom, Garmin, Foursquare, SafeGraph, GeoTechnologies, Inc, METI/NASA, USGS, Bureau of Land Management, EPA, NPS, USDA, USFWS

² Yucca Ash Mesquite-BLM Wareyard

0 21 Miles

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Yucca Ash Mesquite Thin 24

State Highway

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BLM Wareyard