A04_SOW_TCreekStreamStabilization.pdf

Scope of Work (SOW)

Elko District BLM T-Creek Post Fire Stream Stabilization Project

1. Background Information

The Wildcat Fire was contained July 23, 2022, and burned approximately 21,423 acres across Bureau of

Land Management, Forest Service, and private lands. The wildfire burned across several drainages, including T Creek, which has an occupied self-sustaining population of threatened Lahontan Cutthroat trout (LCT). Specialists from BLM and the US Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response

(BAER) team identified T-Creek as needing stabilization measures due to the impacts from the fire. The objectives of this project are to: (1) increase channel-floodplain connectivity, (2) reduce channel incision,

(3) increase groundwater tables and water storage, (4) convert single-threaded channels to multi-threaded channels, (5) and recover and sustain natural habitat forming processes. By reaching these objectives we will increase riverscape resiliency and improve habitat conditions for wildlife and riparian vegetation.

2. Project Description

The Elko District is requesting bids for a contractor to design and implement a Low-Tech Process Based

Restoration (LTPBR) plan to reduce erosion and sedimentation and improve riparian vegetation and in-stream aquatic habitat along approximately 4 miles of T-Creek located in northern Elko County, Nevada.

The LTPBR will primarily consist of using an estimated 95 Beaver Dam Analogs (BDA) and/or Post

Assisted Structures (PAS) to stabilize the stream at strategic locations along the 4-mile reach.

A Successful contractor will: a) Prepare a restoration design to install a mix of large woody debris (LWD) and in-stream habitat structures (rock and LWD) scattered throughout the designated project stream reach that will provide an overall increase in stream habitat complexity (increase the amount of pools, riffles, backwater habitats and cover within the stream channel); b) Implement and construct the restoration design and; c) Provide documentation of the design and as built conditions.

Implementation and construction of the design plan is by hand labor and hand tools only. The only power equipment allowed will be a hydraulic post-pounder (if needed), portable power pack (generator), chain saws and ATVs. No heavy equipment and machinery will be allowed in the project area. The contractor will be responsible to oversee and direct construction, as well as provide equipment and labor to fully implement their design.

BDAs are built by using a variety of materials (e.g., willow, cottonwood, conifers) that are woven between wooden posts driven into the stream bed in the same manner as PAS (in the case of post-assisted

BDAs). The main difference between BDAs and PAS is that BDAs are always channel spanning and local fill from the banks or bed are used to promote ponding of water during low-flow conditions. The fill is typically sourced from the banks and bed upstream of the structure from the area that will be inundated by the pool formed by the BDA. The fill is placed on the upstream side of the BDA to slow water moving through the structure and increase ponding. Material is collected using shovels and picks and moved by hand using 5-gallon buckets.

PAS are constructed by hand placing the wood in the channel and then using the hydraulic post pounder to pound 3-4” diameter untreated wooden posts into the channel to secure the wood. Posts are typically driven in 2-3’ and cut off at approximately bank-full height.

IMPORTANT

The Contractor (at least one person, key in the execution of, and involved throughout the term of the contract) must have formal education in hydrology or similar discipline that gives the contractor competency in fluvial geomorphology processes. The contractor must understand riverscape health, be familiar with the attached Low-Tech Process Based Restoration of Riverscapes Design Manual (hereafter referred to as Low-Tech PBR manual, see references), and follow all principals in the Low-Tech PBR manual to implement treatments effectively in this system.

3. Project Information

Period of Performance

Work will begin in late summer/early fall when water levels are low enough to implement treatments properly, (est. September 2023) and will be completed no later than November 30, 2023.

The contractor will supply a Schedule of Values with the estimated start and completion dates, upon submittal of the bid for this contract.

Project Location

T-Creek is located approximately 38 miles northwest of Wells, Nevada (Map 1). The project is located within the 2022 Wildcat fire perimeter, in the upper Mary’s River Watershed (Map 2.) The entire length of stream does not have to have structures and work completed, just a variety of features scattered throughout the reach at appropriate locations to improve over-all stream habitat condition and complexity.

Work will occur only on BLM lands within the T-Creek area. Access to the project location is readily accessible while conditions are dry.

Map 1. Wildcat Fire location in relation to Wells, Nevada.

Map 2. Estimated general locations of BDA/PAS installation to achieve project goals.

Project Requirements

• Vehicles shall be cleaned and weed-free before entering/re-entering the project site to prevent the transfer of noxious and invasive weeds.

• Work would not be performed during periods when the soil is too wet to adequately support equipment/vehicles. If equipment/vehicles create ruts more than 3 inches deep, operations would cease, as the soil will be deemed too wet to adequately support equipment/vehicles.

• Ground disturbance, including off-road travel will be kept to a minimum to avoid the appearance of an established route that could be mistakenly used by the public.

• Operations of the contractor (including storage of materials, camping area, and vehicle parking) on

BLM lands shall be confined to areas approved by the BLM COR. The surrounding landscape shall not be disturbed. Disturbance to the landscape outside of areas identified by the BLM COR will result in the cessation of operations and written permission from the BLM COR would be required prior to resuming work. If landscape outside of areas identified by the BLM COR for disturbance or operations are disturbed, the Contractor shall restore that area at the Contractor’s expense.

• There are cultural and/or paleontological sites within the project area. These resources will be flagged for avoidance prior to implementation. If the Contractor disturbs or damages any cultural or paleontological sites, the Contractor would be liable for all costs incurred that result from evaluation of impacts to the impacted cultural or paleontological resources as well as any stabilization, repair, or restoration efforts.

• Work affecting a streambed or stream bank will be completed in an expeditious manner to avoid unnecessary impacts to the stream; work will be completed during low to no flow periods.

• Portable hand operated hydraulic generators that operate within the stream channel or riparian area will use biodegradable hydraulic fluid, such as synthetic ester or vegetable oil.

• Surface disturbance will be limited by only clearing vegetation to an extent that is necessary for construction of the project. Precaution will be taken to preserve existing riparian vegetation. Native vegetation will be salvaged and reused where possible.

• Temporary construction facilities will be configured to minimize disturbance to stream banks, stream bank vegetation, and the streambed by locating staging or storage facilities out of the floodplain.

• Work will be conducted in a manner that minimizes turbidity and other disturbances to aquatic resources.

• Appropriate restrictions may apply during times of elevated fire danger.

• All waste, including scraps and packing materials (e.g., metal bands, plastic sacks, etc.) resulting from implementation of treatments shall become the property of the Contractor and shall be removed from the site by the Contractor. Disposal of materials in a legal manner and payment of fees required shall be the Contractor’s responsibility. Burning of any waste materials is not permitted on the work site.

• The work shall comply with codes and standards applicable to each type of treatment as listed in attached the Low-Tech PBR manual.

• Design and implement actions on a reach-by-reach basis around project and complex-scale objectives to ensure that the selected treatments account for the unique, site-specific characteristics, but work together to cumulatively produce the desired outcomes.

• Decisions regarding technique selection should generally be based on the physical parameters of the site, restoration goals, constraints imposed by adjacent land uses, as well as pragmatic considerations on how best to allocate limited project resources.

• To the extent practicable, projects should be implemented in accordance with the following principles of process-based restoration:

o Target root causes of habitat and ecosystem change o Tailor restoration actions to local potential o Match the scale of restoration to the scale at which keystone processes create and maintain site attributes.

o Be explicit about expected outcomes.

• Where BDAs are installed, utilize combinations of primary and secondary dams to create a series of pools and elevation drops that mimic natural beaver dam complexes and correspondingly enable or enhance passage of native fish.

• Where posts are used to provide temporary stability by pinning structure material in place, only untreated posts shall be installed.

The Contractor Shall

• Submit a plan showing the location, type, size, and density of structures, based on site-specific observations & coordination with BLM personnel. The number, type, size, location, and spatial arrangement of structures that best evokes the biophysical responses needed to achieve transect/structure, complex and project-scale objectives should be implemented. These decisions should be made in accordance with the standards of practice described in the attached Low-Tech

PBR Manual. This includes adhering to Ten guiding principles, which are broken into: (1) riverscape principles and (2) restoration principles.

o Riverscapes Principles – would inform planning and design through an understanding of what constitutes healthy, functioning riverscapes and therefore what are appropriate targets and analogues to aim for. They include:

1. Streams need space. Healthy streams are dynamic, regularly shifting position within their valley bottom, reworking and interacting with their floodplain. Allowing streams to adjust within their valley bottom is essential for maintaining functioning riverscapes.

2. Structure forces complexity and builds resilience. Structural elements, such as beaver dams and large woody debris, force changes in flow patterns that produce physically diverse habitats. Physically diverse habitats are more resilient to disturbances than simplified, homogeneous habitats.

3. The importance of structure varies. The relative importance and abundance of structural elements varies based on reach type, valley setting, flow regime and watershed context. Recognizing what type of stream, you are dealing with (i.e., what other streams it is similar to) helps develop realistic expectations about what that stream should or could look (form) and behave (process) like.

4. Inefficient conveyance of water is often healthy. Hydrologic inefficiency is the hallmark of a healthy system. More diverse residence times for water can attenuate potentially damaging floods, fill up valley bottom sponges, and slowly release that water later elevating baseflow and producing critical ecosystem services.

o Restoration Principles – Restoration Principles relate to our specific restoration actions and give us clues as to how to develop designs to promote processes that lead to recovery and resilience. These principles are rooted in the notion that we are not designing and building the solution, but rather we are simply initiating and promoting natural processes with structural additions as efficiently as possible to maximize the miles of riverscape we can improve. The low-tech Restoration Principles elaborated below help place our restoration actions in the right context to maximize our effectiveness in promoting better riverscape health.

5. It’s okay to be messy. When structure is added back to streams, it is meant to mimic and promote the processes of wood accumulation and beaver dam activity. Structures are fed to the system like a meal and should resemble natural structures (log jams, beaver dams, fallen trees) in naturally ‘messy’ systems. Structures do not have to be perfectly built to yield desirable outcomes. Focus less on the form and more on the processes the structures will promote.

6. There is strength in numbers. A large number of smaller structures working in concert with each other can achieve much more than a few isolated, over-built, highly secured structures. Using a lot of smaller structures provides redundancy and reduces the importance of any one structure. It generally takes many structures, designed in a complex (see Chapter 5: Shahverdian et al., 2019c), to promote the processes of wood accumulation and beaver dam activity that lead to the desired outcomes.

7. Use natural building materials. Natural materials should be used because structures are simply intended to initiate process recovery and go away over time. Locally sourced materials are preferable because they simplify logistics and keep costs down.

8. Let the system do the work. Giving the riverscape and/or beaver the tools (structure) to promote natural processes to heal itself with stream power and ecosystem engineering, as opposed to diesel power, promotes efficiency that allows restoration to scale to the scope of degradation.

9. Defer decision making to the system. Wherever possible, let the system make critical design decisions by simply providing the tools and space it needs to adjust. Deferring decision making to the system downplays the significance of uncertainty due to limited knowledge. For example, choosing a floodplain elevation to grade to based on limited hydrology information can be a complex and uncertain endeavor, but deferring to the hydrology of that system to build its own floodplain grade reduces the importance of uncertainty due to limited knowledge.

10. Self-sustaining systems are the solution. Low-tech restoration actions in and of themselves are not the solution. Rather they are just intended to initiate processes and nudge the system towards the goal of building a resilient, self-sustaining riverscape.

• Comply with permits & land use authorizations. The awardee shall comply with the terms and conditions of all current and future permits that authorize the treatments associated with this project.

• Only use materials approved by the BLM. The BLM will provide access to fuel and fire treatments from which woody material can be sourced for the structures. The awardee is responsible for collecting, transporting, staging, and all other aspects of material management.

• Furnish all labor, equipment, appropriately trained personnel, crew supervision, transportation, supplies, and incidentals, and perform all work necessary to apply appropriate treatments within each complex to meet the restoration objectives of each complex. All work will be in accordance with the scope of work and attached Low-Tech PBR manual. Work performance would be dependent on schedule being met. All personnel must have expert knowledge, training, and formal experience applying the Principles of Riverscape Health and Restoration to the design and implementation of riverscape restoration projects.

• Comply with all Federal and Nevada state permits for working in stream beds and banks.

• Adhere to the Standard Operating Procedures identified in the attached Low-Tech PBR

Manual. Follow guidelines and specifications for implementing different treatment types which can be found in the Low-Tech PBR manual. Ensure all personnel are familiar with this manual and properly trained in applying these types of restoration treatments.

• Provide a Final Report describing your work with photos of treatments, GPS locations of each treatment, type of treatment applied (bank attached, mid-channel, etc.), and the purpose of each treatment (what function is the treatment expected to accomplish). The BLM will conduct compliance inspections of contractor treated sites.

• Responsible for watching weather and ensuring contract is completed on time.

• Ensure all PPE and OSHA Standards are followed.

• Provide supervision to ensure the project is completed safely and treatments are implemented according to the attached Low-Tech PBR manual.

• Only use material approved by the BLM. All materials must be native, natural materials that are sourced locally. No noxious weeds or invasive species, including Russian Olive or Tamarisk, may be used.

BLM Shall Provide

• All posts (untreated, 3-4” diameter, 6 ½’ long) required to implement treatments within each complex. Posts will be available at the Elko District BLM office for contractor pick-up.

• The contractor and crew can camp onsite.

• Access to fire and fuel treatments where approved woody materials can be sourced.

• All permits and land use authorizations required to implement the treatments.

Communications and Invoicing

• A pre-work conference will be held prior to work. Contractor will be notified in advance of meeting time, date, and location.

• The contractor, subcontractors, and/or persons responsible for coordination of the work shall be present during all meetings and project inspections.

• Progress meetings will be held at the project site, or as determined by the BLM COR.

• Upon completion of field work and submission of all required data/application records, contractor shall give WRITTEN notice to both the COR and the CO via email. The BLM COR will complete a final inspection after written notification that the work has been completed and all deliverables have been submitted. The final inspection meeting will be held at the project site.

• GIS data (meta data) shall be accurate and include appropriate points, lines, and polygons and attributes associated with projects in Riverscape Studio. Final Report shall be completed properly and include all required information. Failure to give written notice of completion to both the COR and the CO may result in delay of inspection.

• Contractor shall submit an invoice electronically in IPP only upon notification that inspection has been completed and the work has been accepted. Invoices submitted prior to inspection shall be rejected.

References

Wheaton J.M., Bennett S.N., Bouwes, N., Maestas J.D., and Shahverdian S.M. (Editors) 2019. Low-Tech

Process-Based Restoration of Riverscapes: Design Manual. Version 1.0. Utah State University

Restoration Consortium. Logan, UT. Available at: http://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu/manual

Cluer B. and C. Thorne. 2014. A Stream Evolution Model Integrating Habitat and Ecosystem Benefits.

River Research Applications, 30: 135-154 (2014).

http://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu/manual