A04_SOW_Hazard_Tree_Removal.pdf

Great Smoky Mountains

National Park

Statement of Work

Emergency Hazard Tree Removal

SCOPE: This project is for call when needed hazard tree removal. The work is located in Great

Smoky Mountains National Park. The park covers the following counties: Blount, Sevier, and

Cocke Counties, Tennessee and Swain and Haywood Counties, North Carolina.

OVERVIEW

A brief overview of the proposed tasks are given below with more detailed information provided in Section III of this document.

Hazard Tree Removal: The contractor will perform the removal of any identified hazard tree along a Park roadway as well as in any Park developed area. Developed areas are defined as

Park administrative areas with buildings, campgrounds, picnic areas, parking areas, ETC.

Hazard trees will be identified by the Park to the contractor based on the definitions and guidelines given in this document and an ISA-certified arborist from the contractor is required to be at the work site at all times during tree removal. The Park has developed a contractor bid sheet which allows contractors to give prices on mobilization of two response time levels as well as a price per tree with various geographic and removal complexities on a per tree pricing model.

Strainer Hazard Tree Removal: The contractor will perform the removal of any strainer hazard tree identified for removal along a 1.5-mile section of lower Deep Creek waterway located 3 miles north of downtown Bryson City NC. This area is frequented by tubers and these downed tree(s) in the creek channel can cause risk to tubers unless removed. The Park has developed a contractor bid sheet which allows contractors to give prices on mobilization and cost per tree with various removal complexities on a per tree pricing model.

PERFORMANCE PERIOD: The work shall be accomplished from approximately March 2023 through March 2024. Option periods will be awarded based on available funding. In general, no work will be allowed on weekends, government recognized holidays, the month of October, or the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and the weeks before and after Easter

Sunday. Weekends will be from noon on Fridays to 8AM on Mondays. If needed, consideration will be given to allowing contractor to work in closed park areas during those prohibited timeframes. No road lane closures will be allowed in park from June 15th through August 15th..

PROJECT IDENTIFICATION: The work shall consist of the services described below for the referenced project. In this document, the project shall be referred to as “Call as needed hazard tree removal work”.

CONTACTS:

• Contracting Specialist (CO)/Administrator: Geraldine Larsen;

Geraldine_larsen@nps.gov

• Contracting Officer Representative (COR) for this contract is: Tobias Miller

1 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF WORK

Great Smoky Mountains National Park encompasses 814 square miles, making it one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States. The three main park entrances are located at the towns of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Townsend, Tennessee, and Cherokee, North

Carolina. The general scope of work includes removing hazard trees to eliminate hazards to the public and staff of the Park. Work shall be accomplished adjacent to the Park facilities including roads, trails, campsites, picnic sites, parking areas, overlooks, and pull offs throughout the Park. Contractor once contacted by Park will have 5 business days to respond and remove the identified hazard tree(s) under the standard mobilization pricing. For the strainer tree removal work requested on Deep Creek water way only, the contractor once contacted by the Park will have 72 hours to respond and remove the hazard(s). Each task order for this contract will be in response to one or more trees that the Park needs addressed in one of the four geographic areas that are listed.

2 FUNDING LIMITATIONS

The Government obligation for performance of this contract is contingent upon the availability of funds from which payment for contract purposes can be made. No legal liability on the part of the Government for any payment may arise for performance under this contract beyond the amount that has been authorized through the issuance of written contracts.

The Government may award a contract for the Proposal Schedule, for the Proposal Schedule and any Options, or for the Proposal Schedule and any combination of Options up to and including all Options. All work shall be performed under a single contract.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatlinburg%2C_Tennessee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee%2C_North_Carolina http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee%2C_North_Carolina

3 SCOPE OF SERVICES

3.1 Hazard Tree Removal

3.1.1 Description of work

Cut and remove hazard trees to eliminate hazards to the public. Cut and remove Park identified hazard trees from Park roadways and developed areas including the single creek waterway, Deep

Creek. For the purposes of this contract, hazard trees will be defined as follows:

Hazard trees are defined as any tree over 6 inches diameter with a major defect that upon failing is likely to have all or parts of the tree impacting the identified target (For example, roadway, campsite, picnic site, building, parking areas, Deep Creek waterway, etc). This is also to include trees that have fallen or have partially fallen creating hazards for removal in all areas including

Deep Creek waterway. The trees that require removal from the Deep Creek waterway are in the

1.5 mile section of waterway that is adjacent to an administrative use (not publicly driven) gravel road/trail from the gate at the trailhead for the Deep Creek Trail to the junction with the Indian

Creek administrative road/trail. Most of the creek is generally directly accessible via the gravel administrative road yet in some sections there may be up to 300 feet separating the trees in the creek that need removal from the roadway, and equipment WILL NOT be able to reach the trees as equipment is only allowed along roadway surface. Also, removal of strainer trees may involve cutting in, or near various depths of swift water.

Major defects include:

• Dead-standing snags

• Significant dead stems, leaders, or scaffolds (that are too large to mitigate by pruning-out)

• Heavy, unnatural lean towards or parallel to target

• Open Hollows, cankers, or other areas of dead cambium or rot on trunk flare or bole of tree that encompasses over 30% of diameter at the site of defect.

• Obvious internal hollows at trunk flare that account for over 66% basal area of tree.

• Horizontal or vertical cracking on trunk flare, bole, or major scaffold.

• Root lifting near base of tree.

• Damage to, or exposure of, over 30% of major anchoring roots

• Significant recent canopy dieback on over 50% of crown.

3.1.2 Handling of woody material

• Along roadways, woody material (tree tops, branches, logs, etc) shall be hauled out of the

Park or be disposed of in adjacent wooded areas (chipped only) as long as, in the opinion of the government, the aesthetic quality of the park is not compromised. The contractor is expected to haul 70%-90% of felled trees/logs from the Park, as directed by the CO.

• All logs that are pulled out and hauled off shall be legally disposed of off Park property.

Logs left on site in Government-approved areas shall be laid flat to be in full contact with the ground.

• Any woody material left on site shall be cut flush to the ground and laid flat.

• Along roads, stumps shall be cut to no greater than 2 inches, or removed and the area repaired to original contour.

• In Campgrounds only, woody material 12 inches diameter or less shall be bucked into 2 ft.

sections and stacked at the woodline for firewood use (tree tops and other small material shall be hauled off site, and does not have to be bucked).

• In all non-roadside areas, all woody material shall be legally disposed of off Park property.

Contractors will be expected to haul 100% of woody material out of developed areas, unless noted above for camprgrounds or if otherwise approved by the CO/COR.

• Piles of chipped or ground materials shall not be greater than 3 inches high as measured to the surrounding area, and chips shall be evenly spread across the area of disposal.

• No woody material shall be left in open grass areas.

• Do not allow leaves, wood chips, or wood debris to be deposited in or near any drainage structure that could inhibit water flow. Logs dropped in streams shall be cut to no longer than 8 ft. lengths.

• Cutting and trimming around buildings, masonry walls, guardrails, fencing, signs, headwalls, specimen trees, boulders, and curbing shall be accomplished in a way that avoids damage to and protects the Park’s infrastructure.

Threatened & Endangered Species: All or portions of this contract will be in areas under management for Indiana Bats and Northern Flying Squirrels, both federally listed species. This will impact the contract by requiring specific mitigations in managed areas. Most notably, due to

Indiana Bat nesting habitat, all cutting of trees over 6 inches DBH not performed between

November 15th and March 31st will require specific confirmation that no bats are using the tree(s) to roost before cutting. Outside of this time period, the Park will be responsible for confirming this. During the time period this step is not needed. See section 4.3 Threatened & Endangered

Species below for specific details.

Protection of Park Resources: Cutting around buildings, masonry walls, guardrails, fencing, signs, headwalls, specimen trees, boulders, and curbing shall be accomplished in a way that avoids damage to and protects the Park’s infrastructure. Specific requirements for protection of natural resources and infrastructure, including damage to asphalt pavement, can be found in section 4.2

Road and Traffic Control: Requirements for road access and traffic management is given in section 4.1 Worksite and Road Control Requirements.

4 Special Project Requirements

4.1 Worksite and Road Control Requirements

• The contractor must keep the roads open for public use at all times during hazard tree removal except when closures have been permitted.

• One-lane closures will be permitted for this work.

• The contractor will be required to post appropriate advance warning signs indicating periods of tree removal work. Traffic control shall be in accordance with the Manual on Uniform

Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and traffic control measures must be in place and functional at all times during construction activities.

• Special care must be taken to prevent impacting the surrounding area or facilities.

• Contractor shall clear roadways of all tree and brush clearing debris before reopening roadway lanes to traffic.

4.2 Protection of Park Infrastructure and Resources

4.2.1 Protection of trees and vegetation

In order to protect park natural resources the contractor shall adhere to the following guidelines:

• All pruning and felling shall be performed to industry standards based on ANSI Z133 and

ANSI A300:Part 1. Pruning shall be performed from a bucket truck, aerial lift, or with a trained tree climber with appropriate rope techniques. Pruning non-removal trees via spiking/gaffing is not allowed in this contract.

• Care should be taken to limit damage to non-target trees during felling operations.

• If non-hazard trees are struck and damaged through felling operations, the contractor is responsible for mitigating any new hazards (e.g., pruning out large broken branches if they present a hazard, felling trees that have been compromised).

• No vehicular equipment access will be allowed beyond the edge of the forest (including skid steers, tracked chippers, etc).

• Woody material shall not be piled next to non-hazard trees, even temporarily, due to risk of damage to tree base and roots.

• The contractor must stop work immediately and immediately notify the COR if any cultural resources are encountered.

4.2.2 Protection of Park Infrastructure

In order to protect park infrastructure, the contractor shall adhere to the following guidelines and mitigations:

• Protect asphalt pavement in a manner that felling operations, dragging, outriggers, equipment, tracks, etc. will not damage asphalt. Small patches will not be allowed on any sections of roadway that have been paved or overlaid within 3 years. Mill and https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/ overlay full lane width per FHWA special contract requirements will be required on newly paved sections of road damaged by the Contractor during contract operations.

• Any asphalt, grounds, guardrail, signs, or other park amenities damaged due to construction activities will be repaired at the expense of the contractor.

4.3 Threatened and Endangered Species

4.3.1 Indiana Bats

The normal period for cutting trees that are potential roost trees for Indiana Bats is November

15th through March 31st.

There are no restrictions on cutting trees that are potential roost trees for Indiana Bats during the time period of November 15th through March 31st. If work is to be performed outside this window, the Park will determine if the tree exhibits these important characteristics of summer roost trees for Indiana bats: Structural (e.g., exfoliating bark, tree cavities, crevices, etc.) and are typically found on dead, hollow, dying, damaged, or very large trees. For the purpose of this contract, only trees with these characteristics that are greater than 6 inches DBH will be considered potential Indiana bat roosting habitat. Trees that would not be considered potential summer habitat for Indiana bats, and therefore shall be removed in accordance with this contract, include: 1) root sprung trees that pose a hazard along roads; 2) live trees with tight bark and no crevices or hollows that could be used as roosts, and 3) Spruce/Fir forests.

4.3.2 Northern Flying Squirrels

Northern Flying Squirrel habitat is found only at elevations greater than 4,500 feet above sea level. For the purposes of this contract, any roads and/or developed areas at this elevation or above that are listed to be treated will be included and will require this additional requirement.

The Carolina northern flying squirrel prefers yellow birch cavities for nesting and, therefore, tree and/or limb removal in areas that contain northern hardwoods, particularly yellow birch, should be conservative. Cutting live trees or the limbs of live trees at the trunk in northern hardwoods would not impact northern flying squirrels provided the live trees or limbs do not have holes, crevices or cavities. Trees or limbs that contain holes, crevices or cavities shall not be cut. It shall be the contractor’s responsibility, while in the identified habitat areas, to survey the limbs and trees for holes, crevices or cavities, and make the determination to remove the limbs or trees or to not remove them. If tree or limbs are not removed they shall be noted and shown to the COR for concurrence that they are not to be removed.

4.4 Certified Arborist

The contractor shall provide an ISA Certified Arborist who shall be required to be on-site at all times that any tree work is taking place. Provide alternate certified arborist whenever primary arborist must be off site.

4.5 Health & Safety

4.5.1 Protection to the Public

The treatment sites are located in public areas that often receive many park visitors. The contractor shall provide suitable signs and barriers, barrier tape or barricades necessary to warn people of and protect people from the contract operations.

4.5.2 Worker Safety

• The Contractor shall take all necessary precautions for the safety of, and shall provide the necessary protection to prevent damage, injury or loss to all Contractor or Sub-contractor employees on the job. Safety requirements are governed by OSHA regulations. Contractor shall provide employees with the proper personal protection equipment such as hard hats, goggles, chaps, leather gloves, hearing protection and high top leather work boots with lugged soles. Each worksite should have readily available a first aid kit, a bee sting kit, two-way radios or cellular phones for communications in the remote areas of the parkway and a vehicle available for emergency transportation to a medical facility.

• Sawyers shall be trained and currently certified in first aid and CPR as per OSHA requirements

• Contractor shall provide a copy of Company Safety Plan that addresses all safety topics including work hazards associated with this project and accident and spill response.

4.5.3 Fire Prevention

Contractor shall take all necessary precautions to prevent fire during this contract work. Internal combustion equipment shall be located by the contractor so that exhausts discharge well away from combustible materials. The contractor shall provide a minimum of one fire extinguisher per vehicle/equipment at each separate job site that is appropriate for each type of fire that could occur on the job. Contractor shall notify COR as soon as possible of any fire starts regardless of size and whether or not fire is/was contained.

4.5.4 Contractor Conduct

While at the work site or traveling to and from it in the boundaries of the Great Smoky

Mountains National Park, the Contractor shall comply with any rules and regulations of the

National Park Service governing the park in general and the work site in specific.

4.5.5 Accident Reporting

Report all accidents on the jobsite to the area Ranger and COR or area Project Inspector.

4.6 Reporting

4.6.1 Daily Reports

Contractor shall maintain daily logs of work. Reports shall log date, weather, employees on site, equipment on site, and work accomplished. Contractor shall use their own form.

4.6.2 Tree Removal Reports

Contractor shall maintain daily logs that report the number of hazard trees removed per call out.

Submittals

Contractor will be required to submit the following before beginning work:

• Certificate of Insurance

• Safety Plan

• Traffic Control Plan

• SF 1413s for All Subcontractors

• Project Schedule

• First Aid and CPR Certification of all Sawyers

• Certification/Licensure of Certified Arborists

• TN Certification/Licensure of Herbicide/Pesticide Applicators

• Data and MSDS for Herbicide

5 Quality standards Quality Standards for all work under the contract shall be in accordance with the base contract, commercial practices and as described in this statement of work.

1. Contractor must have good past performance on previous federal government work.

2. Quality Assurance and Quality Control are the responsibility of the contractor. The COR and park inspectors will evaluate contractor’s performance based on the SOW. Sites will be periodically inspected for quality throughout the contract period and contractor will be informed if he has missed anything or there are any discrepancies.

3. At the conclusion of the work of this project, it is expected that selected trees and brush shall be removed or chipped and spread in the area of disturbance, and that safe access to roads, trails, pull-offs, overlooks, and parking lots is reestablished.

4. The contractor must understand that its employees will be working alongside, near, and in some cases on the road. Proper safety protocol will be the responsibility of the contractor. This includes, but is not limited to, proper signage for oncoming traffic and safety attire for employees (e.g. orange or yellow vests, traffic cones, and flags) as stated in the MUTCD. The contractor will need to coordinate with the Facility

Management Office at Great Smoky Mountains National Park regarding the safety protocol along roadside and traffic control. Traffic Control must be reviewed and approved by COR. Arrow board shall be used in certain areas if dictated by MUTCD.

And arrow board is required for any work on the Gatlinburg Spur. Traffic control in areas/road closed to the public will still be required for park staff and other contractor traffic. Equipment used along the roadside will need to be approved prior to contract work. Flaggers will be needed while working along the roadside and flaggers must have way to communicate with one another besides visually.

5. Remove any incidental trash and all equipment from the work site each day. Repair any direct or indirect damage to Government property caused by the Contractor’s personnel or equipment and restore such property to its condition prior to sustaining such damage.

6 Schedule Work may start on site after the contract is awarded, all submittals have been approved, a pre-construction conference is held, a Notice to Proceed issued, and once a work schedule is coordinated with the CO.

7 Fee and Payment After completion of the work and as a prerequisite to the final payment on this contract, the contractor shall furnish to the Contracting Officer a Release of Claims arising out of this

Contract. Such claims as are asserted by the contractor and alleged as excepted from operation of the Release shall be listed in spaces provided after the word “except” and shall be referenced to correspondence or other identifying data, together with monetary amount for each major claim item.

NOTE: The Government may award a contract for the Proposal Schedule, for the Proposal

Schedule and any Option or for the Proposal Schedule and any combination of Options up to and including all options. All work shall be performed under a single contract.