Statement of Work.doc

BOTANICAL FIELD INVENTORY FOR NON-NATIVE INVASIVE PLANTS for the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest Statement of Work

C.01 – GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

1.1 – Scope of Contract

The purpose of this contract is to conduct field inventories for NNIS (Non-Native Invasive Species) in Rabun, Murray, Fannin, Gilmer, Oglethorpe, Putnam, Jones, Jasper, Greene, Dawson, and Lumpkin counties. These are located on the Chattooga River Ranger District, Blue Ridge Ranger District, Conasauga Ranger District, and Oconee Ranger District of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, Georgia. The Forest NNIS list is included in Exhibit A, but the contractor should also note NNIS that are potential threats (as defined by the Georgia Exotic Plant Pest Council), also included in Exhibit A. Contractors must be able to defend the quality and accuracy of their work should the need arise due to appeals or legal actions.

1.2 – Performance Time and Order of Work

Inventories will be conducted between May 15 and September 01, 2010. All reports will be submitted by September 10, 2010 at the latest. Contractor must have adequate GPS equipment to record data. Forest Service will provide background files that will assist in the boundaries of the project.

1.3 – Government-Furnished Property Except for Government-furnished property listed below, the contractor shall furnish all tools, labor, transportation and miscellaneous items necessary to carry out the project. Government-furnished property is available at each District office prior to beginning the surveys.

The Forest Service shall provide as needed:

1. Quad (topo) sheets for the inventory areas

2. Background maps of stand and road coverage’s

3. Forest Service Map

C.02 – TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

2.1 – Survey Areas

Survey areas will consist of a total of 5,719 acres. This acreage consists of roadside or streamside surveys, where surveys will be conducted on 150 feet on either side of roadside/stream locations. Roadside/stream surveys total 157.4 miles. Mileage and acreage of the areas to be surveyed are shown in Exhibit B. Maps of sites requiring inventories are shown in Exhibit C.

1 mile = 36 acres (5280 feet/mile X 300 ft / 43,560 sq ft/acre = 36 acres)

2.2 – Inventory Requirements

2.2.1 – Inventory Method:

The contractor shall complete a thorough ground inventory of the designated areas indicated in the contract and on the maps.

While conducting surveys, the contractor shall check-in with the District Inspectors by phone or email once a week.

· Conasauga RD – Ruth Stokes (706-695-6736), rbstokes@fs.fed.us

· Blue Ridge RD – James Wentworth (706-745-6928), jwentworth@fs.fed.us

· Chattooga RD – Mike Brod (706-754-6221), mbrod@fs.fed.us

· Oconee RD – Liz Caldwell (706-485-7110), edcaldwell@fs.fed.us

2.2.2 – Field Documentation:

Record invasive species with location and coverage as indicated on the Invasive Species Form, Exhibit D. GPS files must be differentially corrected in UTM coordinates; datum must be WGS 84 and NAD 83. Terra Sync or Arcpad programs are the required software to use for documenting locations. The GPS files must be ArcGIS compatible and have correctly projected polygon or point shapefiles.

Areas that are less than one acre in size- Contractor is required to GPS coordinates and record for invasive plant locations, and the positions noted in the spaces provided on the form. Please report coordinates in decimal degrees.

All forms and copies of any field notes will be submitted to the Forest Service. Forms, field notes and invoices are to be sent directly to the COTR/Forest Silviculturist, Brian Jackson at the Supervisor’s Office.

BRIAN JACKSON

USDA FOREST SERVICE

1755 CLEVELAND HWY

GAINESVILLE, GA 30501

The contractor will provide completed forms and field notes (if any) by September 10, 2010.

C.03 – ACCEPTANCE AND PAYMENT

If desired, partial payments may be requested during the contract period as a survey area is completed. The Forest Service will review these within 7 calendar days and payment will be made when the work is accepted. Payment will be based on the unit price shown on the order. For payment purposes, the acreage shown in Exhibit B is considered to be true acreage and will not be re-measured.

Exhibit A Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest

Non-native Invasive Plants - 2009

* - applies only to endophyte-enhanced cultivars, (e.g. KY 31 tall fescue)

The following information was obtained from the Georgia Exotic Plant Pest Council website. It is to be used as an additional reference guide for identifying current known threats and potential threats from invasive plant species that may or may not be currently listed on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest species list.

Invasive Plant Definition

Invasive species is defined as any species, including its seeds, spores or other biological material capable of propagating that species, that is not native to that ecosystem; and whose introduction does or is likely to cause environmental harm. Political boundaries are not used when determining a species nativity. Instead a species is defined as being exotic when it is not native to a particular ecosystem, making it possible to have a species that is native to parts of Georgia, but considered invasive in others.

List Description

The invasive plant list is separated into 4 categories, with one subcategory (see category definitions below). Species were ranked by EPPC members with input from other professionals and land managers. Detailed distribution information does not exist for many of these species, making it difficult to use demonstrable distribution data as a criterion for ranking a species. Efforts are underway to collect this distribution data and future revisions of the Georgia EPPC Invasive Species List will incorporate the data.

Category 1 - Exotic plant that is a serious problem in Georgia natural areas by extensively invading native plant communities and displacing native species.

Category 1 Alert - Exotic plant that is a not yet a serious problem in Georgia natural areas, but that has significant potential to become a serious problem.

Category 2 - Exotic plant that is a moderate problem in Georgia natural areas through invading native plant communities and displacing native species, but to a lesser degree than category 1 species.

Category 3 - Exotic plant that is a minor problem in Georgia natural areas, or is not yet known to be a problem in Georgia but is known to be a problem in adjacent states.

Melilotus alba Medikus

Exhibit B Bid Item # 1 Conasauga Ranger District (see attached map)

Bid Item #2 Chattooga River Ranger District (see attached map)

Bid Item #3Blue Ridge Ranger District (see attached map)

Roads

Bid Item #4 Streams

Bid Item #5 Oconee Ranger District Roads (see attached map)

Roads (Green/Oglethorpe County)

Roads (Putnam/Jones/Jasper County)

Optional Bid Item #6. Additional surveys

There may be additional roadside/streamside inventories, depending on funding and needs available following award of this contract. These areas will be similar in scope and location to bid items listed above. Exact acreage and locations of these surveys is not known at this time.

Exhibit C

Exhibit D

Non-native Invasive Species

List invasive plants seen and GPS location of the center of the invasive infestation, and estimate amount of area occupied by the species (i.e. 3 ft. x 4 ft.). For linear infestations as along a road, a suggestion for a way to write coverage would be: 3 ft. LI (linear) x 2ft. (where the 2 ft. is the distance extending from the road back toward the woods), e.g. 3ft. LI x 2 ft.

Exhibit D (continued)

Additional Remarks:

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