RoadsideRestorationcontract_schedule_specs_evalcriteria.pdf

SECTION B--SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS

SCHEDULE OF ITEMS

Gunflint Trail Integrated Roadside Restoration Project Superior National Forest

Cook County

Item No. Description with total acres to treat Quantity Unit Price

01 Native plant restoration on 17 acres 1 Job $_________ Of Gunflint Trail Right of Way

Signature Date

Gunflint Trail Integrated Roadside Restoration Project Superior National Forest

Cook County

SECTION C--DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

INTRODUCTION

The goal of this contract is to restore roadside vegetation on a 4.4 mile stretch of the upper Gunflint Trail in Cook County, Minnesota (see Attachment 1 – Project Map). The work consists of site preparation, planting, and maintenance of the establishing vegetation through the end of the 2019 growing season. The work shall include all native plant material, herbicide, labor, and any other necessary materials. This is a performance-based contract. The Contractor shall be responsible for determining the methods and materials best suited for establishing vegetation that meets the objectives detailed below.

BACKGROUND

The Gunflint Trail is a 57 mile long National Scenic Byway that accesses remote areas within the Superior National Forest. Among other things, it serves as an important access corridor for the nearby Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Since the 1999 windstorm and several large wildfires, it has increasingly served as a corridor for the movement and establishment of non-native invasive plants (NNIP). This contract is an attempt to reduce the abundance of invasive plants and restore native vegetation along part of this important travel corridor.

The Gunflint Trail is within the Border Lakes Ecological Subsection of the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province (http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ecs/index.html). The desired vegetation for the project is the kind of vegetation that might typically be found growing in openings in the boreal forest. There is not much overlap with vegetation found growing in the prairie regions of Minnesota. For this reason, a species list of native plants appropriate to this part of the Superior National Forest is specified below for use in this contract.

OBJECTIVES

The desired outcome for this project is eradication of target non-native plants and establishment of an assemblage of self-sustaining native plants. Vegetation establishment will be considered acceptable when the following conditions are met by the end of 2019 growing season (these apply to where vegetation management occurs):

• Primary NNIP target species are less than or equal to 10% vegetative cover

• Native species are at least 50% cover

• There are at least 10 native plant species established from planting

• There are no areas larger than 0.05 acre with less than 10% native cover or greater than

40% primary NNIP species cover

After the first full growing season in 2018, vegetation establishment will be considered acceptable when the following conditions are met:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ecs/index.html

• Primary NNIP target species are less than or equal to 20% vegetative cover

• At least 5 perennial native plants are common and widely dispersed

• No serious erosion problems

In accord with agency policy, the preferred origin of native plant material is Northern Superior Uplands ecological section (policy direction https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/Native_Plant_Materials/policy.shtml); other more distant origins native plant material will be accepted as necessary.

DESCRIPTION AND LOCATION

The treatment area is located along the right-of-way of the Gunflint Trail National Scenic Byway (Cook County Highway 12), approximately 48 miles northwest from Grand Marais, MN. The stretch of road is approximately 4.4 miles long, with approximately 17 acres of roadside vegetation within the clearing limits, which are typically 10 feet to 20 feet wide. There are a few larger clearings or slopes (0.5 acre to 0.8 acre) that are included in the 17 acres. Of the 17 acre project area, there are approximately 4 acres of non native plants that require treatment. Some of these sites are so small they would not need vegetation establishment. Of the 17 acre project area, approximately 2.0 acres would require native plantings, broken out as shown:

Gravelly clearing 0.8 ac Gravelly hillside 0.5 ac Approx. 16 known invasive sites at approx. 300 ft2 each 0.1 ac Approx. 90 other invasive sites at approx. 300 ft2 each 0.6 ac TOTAL 2.0 ac

Some representative photos are below.

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/Native_Plant_Materials/policy.shtml

As the photos show, all the work is in areas with existing vegetation, which is generally dominated by perennial non-native grasses like timothy grass and others. Where the road passes through lowlands (mostly alder swamps), the work would be on the fill slope of the road although some treatments of reed canarygrass at the edge of the road right of way/alder swamp may be needed. Upland soils in the area are generally gravelly and well drained – see soil descriptions below.

SOIL TYPES ALONG TARGET STRETCH OF GUNFLINT TRAIL

Ecological Landtype (ELT) ELT Description Miles 1 Riparian soils, often poorly drained 0.2

2 Wetland soils, poorly drained 0.1 6 Wetland with organic soils 0.7 11 Deep, well drained upland soil, loamy sand and sandy loam mainly

0.2

14 Deep, well drained upland, finer textured and higher nutrient soil than ELT 11

0.2

16 Upland, well drained, 20-40 inches of gravelly sandy loam over bedrock

0.7

17 Upland, well drained, 8-20 inches gravelly sandy loam over bedrock

0.1

18 Extremely well drained upland, less than 8 inches gravelly sandy loam over bedrock, with bedrock exposures

0.6

SCOPE

Non-Native Invasive Plant Management NNIP management tools may include herbicide, mowing, or limited disking. During the contract period, the Contractor is required to mow the project area right of way once per growing season.

Highway Department normally mows but Contractor mowing will prevent planted vegetation from being damaged or buried by mowed vegetation.

The Contractor is required to treat infestations of plants specified in the lists below that are found within the clearing limits of the 4.4 mile long project area. The treatment goals are listed below.

A. Primary NNIP Target Species Goal: Eradication in project area Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) Bird’s foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) Bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare) Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) Crown vetch (Coronilla varia) Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) Orange hawkweed (Hieracium aurianticum) Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) Reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinaceae) Spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) Tufted vetch (Vicia cracca)

White sweetclover (Melilotus albus) Yellow hawkweeds (Hieracium spp.)

Yellow rocket (Barbarea vulgaris) Yellow sweetclover (Melilotus officinalis) *Common reed (Phragmites australis) *Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) *Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) *Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) *Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) *Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) *St. Johnswort (Hypericum perforatum) *Wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)

B. Secondary Target Species Treatment Goal: Containment, treat where they occur near a primary target species Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum) Black medic (Medicago lupulina) Burdock (Arctium minus) Caraway (Carum carvi) Common buttercup (Ranunculus acris) Common sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea) Curly dock (Rumex crispus) Field sow thistle (Sonchus arvensis) Hemp nettle (Galeopsis tetrahit) Pineapple weed (Matricaria discoidea)

Rabbit’s foot clover (Trifolium arvense) Red clover (Trifolium pratense) Scentless chamomile (Tripleurospermum inodurum) Sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella) Sulfur cinquefoil (Potentilla recta) Sweet rocket (Hesperis matronalis) White campion (Silene latifolia) White clover (Trifolium repens) Yellow goatsbeard (Tragopogon dubius)

C. Tertiary Target Species Goal: May be treated where there’s a need to knock it back to permit native species plantings.

Chickweed (Cerastium fontanum) Common plantain (Plantago major) Common speedwell (Veronica officinalis) Creeping bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides) Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica) Hawksbeard (Crepis tectorum) Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris) Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) Other pasture grasses

Pineapple weed (Matricaria discoidea) Redtop (Agrostis gigantea) Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)

Smooth brome (Bromus inermis) Timothy grass (Phleum pratense) Tower mustard (Arabis glabra)

*Not yet known from project area

The following herbicides are preferred:

• Milestone (chemical name = aminopyralid)

• Escort or similar (chemical name = metsulfuron methyl)

• Transline or similar (chemical name = clopyralid)

• Glyphosate-based herbicide

All herbicide formulations must be approved by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) prior to use. Surfactants should be used when not included in the herbicide formulation. At the completion of spraying activities, the Contractor shall provide the Forest Service with herbicide use and application records. The Contractor shall furnish all labor, equipment, herbicides, carriers, surfactants, supervision, transportation, supplies, and incidentals (except those designated as Government-furnished property listed below).

The Contractor shall minimize herbicide damage to native plants. The Contractor shall be able to identify target plant species in the field and be able to distinguish them from native plants.

The Contractor must possess a current Minnesota commercial pesticide applicators license at the time of the treatment or be covered by a reciprocity agreement under a neighboring state license.

The Contractor and any employees must follow all label safety requirements and recommendations.

Motor vehicles associated with herbicide treatment (e.g., ATVs, passenger vehicles, tractors, riding mowers, etc.) would not be operated in wetlands while the ground surface is inundated or saturated, or in forested areas where the equipment is not capable of passage without damage to overstory (canopy) trees. Equipment refueling will not be done in wetlands, poorly drained soil, filter strips, or riparian management zones. Mix and load herbicides outside of wetlands, areas with poorly drained soil, filter strips, and riparian management zones.

Weather forecasts will be obtained prior to herbicide treatment. Treatment activities will be halted, if necessary, to prevent runoff during heavy rain events. Herbicide application will only occur when wind speeds are less than 10 mph, or according to label direction, to minimize herbicide drift.

Rinse water for cleaning or rinsing actions in conjunction with herbicide treatment will be disposed of according to label instructions.

Vegetation Establishment A vegetation establishment period begins on the date that planting is complete and continues until final acceptance. The menu of desired and acceptable native plant material is shown below.

The list is based on species known to occur along the upper Gunflint Trail. Not all species need be used. Because of lack of availability, substitutions may be proposed by the Contractor but must be approved by the Forest Service. Both seeds and plugs of native plant material are acceptable. As stated above, the preferred origin of native plant material is Northern Superior Uplands ecological section; other more distant origin native plant material will be accepted as necessary.

Bluejoint (Calamagrostis canadensis) Canada wildrye (Elymus canadensis) Fringed brome (Bromus ciliatus) Poverty oats (Danthonia spicata)

American vetch (Vicia americana) Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) Big leaf aster (Eurybia macrophylla) Bush honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera) Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis) Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) Fowl mannagrass (Glyceria striata) Grass leaved goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia) Gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis) Hairy goldenrod (Solidago hispida) Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia) Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum) Lindley’s aster (Symphotrichum ciliolatus) Pale corydalis (Corydalis sempervirens) Panicled aster (Symphotrichum lanceolatum) Pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritaceae) Prickly or smooth wild rose (Rosa acicularis or blanda) Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta) Rough cinquefoil (Potentilla norvegica) Spreading dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium) Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) Tall cinquefoil (Potentilla arguta) Wild mint (Mentha arvensis)

Areas that will be the focus of the plantings will be areas where non-native species were treated and killed. At these locations, spot treatment of perennial pasture grass in the right of way to create small openings for native plantings may be needed. Two other focus areas for planting are a 0.8 acre clearing and 0.5 acre slope where there are low densities of any plants. The Contractor shall determine the appropriate species and planting densities and manage vegetation as needed to ensure species cover and diversity will meet the objectives by September 2019.

The Contractor shall visit the project area every 3 weeks during the growing season to assess the progress of the vegetation establishment and determine vegetation management needs. The Contractor shall email a written scouting report to the Forest Service within seven days of each scouting event. Scouting reports must contain the following information:

• Name of Contractor’s responsible scout or representative

• Date of site visit

• Most common native species and average height of native vegetation

• Most common non-native species and average height

• Soil moisture assessment

• Comments on the general progress of native vegetation establishment

• Vegetation management actions performed

• At least one date-stamped photo of the site, taken from the same vantage point every time.

Mowing This roadside has been regularly mowed (i.e. there is no brush). Contractor shall mow the roadside in the project area once per growing season. Invasive species may be mowed more than once. Mowing will consist of cutting all grasses and forbs from the roadbed to a distance of 2 to 8 feet depending on terrain, proximity to bedrock or wetlands, etc. Contractor will cut vegetation to no higher than 6 inches. Establishing vegetation may be avoided during mowing if necessary.

When encountering slopes the mower deck should be tilted so it is parallel to the ground.

Contractor shall not deposit debris in roadway.

INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

The Forest Service will conduct spot checks of Contractor’s work during site preparation, planting, and maintenance of vegetation. In mid to late September of 2017, 2018, and 2019, the Forest Service will also conduct inspections. During the post-growing season inspections, the Forest Service will use quantitative vegetation measurement methods (point or line intercept) and random sampling to assess the abundance of native and non-native plants and determine if objectives have been met.

The Forest Service will accept the site preparation if the Contractor makes reasonable progress towards preparing the site for planting, submits pesticide application records, mows the right of way once, and reduces abundance of primary target non-native plants to less than 40% cover.

The Forest Service will accept the planting when the Contractor has submitted any seed tags they have for native plant material, planted all the native plant material required to put the project on track to meet the objectives, installed any necessary erosion control measures, and cleaned up the site of any work-related debris.

The Forest Service will accept the first full year of vegetation establishment if the Contractor submits all scouting records on time, submits pesticide application records as needed, performs any needed follow-up herbicide application or planting, mows the right of way once, and meets the interim vegetation establishment objectives by mid-September 2018.

The Forest Service will accept vegetation establishment if the Contractor submits all scouting records on time, submits pesticide application records as needed, performs any needed follow-up herbicide application or planting, mows the right of way once, and meets the final vegetation establishment objectives by mid-September 2019.

COMMENCEMENT, PROSECUTION, AND COMPLETION OF WORK

The Contractor shall be required to commence work under this contract on or about June 1, 2017.

The first round of herbicide treatments must be completed in summer 2017 before target species finish flowering to prevent seed production. To achieve the eradication goal, follow-up treatment in 2018 will be required. The Contractor shall determine the best timing for restoration plantings. Plantings may begin as early as summer 2017, but shall begin no later than summer 2018. The Contractor shall complete all follow-up treatments and fill-in plantings by September 2019.

CONTRACT TIME

Notification of award will be issued before June 1, 2017. Contract period will be June 1, 2017 to October 31, 2019.

PAYMENTS

Partial payments are authorized for this contract. For the first two partial payments, the Forest Service will pay up to 40% of the contract price upon completion of the following work:

• The Forest Service will pay up to 20% of the contract price upon completion and acceptance of site preparation as defined above.

• The Forest Service will pay up to 20% of the contract price upon completion and acceptance of planting as defined above.

The Forest Service will pay up to 30% of the contract price upon completion and acceptance of the first full year of vegetation establishment at the end of the 2018 growing season. Acceptance of interim vegetation establishment work is defined in the “Inspection and Acceptance” section.

The Forest Service will pay the remaining 30% of the contract price upon final inspection and acceptance of vegetation establishment at the end of the 2019 growing season. Acceptance of final vegetation establishment work is defined in the “Inspection and Acceptance” section.

The Contractor will be eligible for a bonus of 10% over the contract price if the vegetation establishment exceeds the objectives required for final acceptance. Requirements for earning the bonus are:

• Spotted knapweed is no more than 1% canopy cover

• Birdsfoot trefoil is no more than 1% canopy cover

• There are 17 or more native plant species established from planting

QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN

The Contracting Officer’s Representative and/or designated Inspector will make periodic inspections during the site preparation, planting, and vegetation establishment phases of the project. These inspections would track the progress of the work and make sure the Contractor is working towards the objectives. These periodic inspections would take place at the project area and be qualitative in nature. Inspections would track on both desirable progress such as dying non-native invasive plants or germination or vigor of native plants as well as undesirable progress such as non-native invasive plants missed during spraying or native plants damaged by overspray. Inspections may take place both while the Contractor is onsite and when the Contractor is not present. Inspections would be documented with a brief report that would be shared with the Contractor.

During the vegetation establishment period, there would be an inspection that makes quantitative vegetation measurements to track on whether interim and final vegetation establishment objectives are met. Canopy cover would be measured with the line or point intercept method along randomly placed transects, and counts of numbers of established species would focus on where planting had occurred. Quantitative inspections would be conducted by the COR. These inspections would be documented with a brief report that would be shared with the Contractor.

EVALUATION FACTORS FOR TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

Responses to the Request for Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria.

These criteria are listed in descending order of importance.

1. Proposal Describe your plan for accomplishing the desired restoration outcome and meeting the vegetation objectives. Include description of how you would prepare the site. Also describe your planting proposal, including the county of origin of proposed species for use in project. Also describe how you would maintain the establishing vegetation, and what your schedule for accomplishing the work would be.

2. Personnel List the key personnel for the project and describe their relevant experience

3. Contract experience Describe the firm’s experience with similar projects in the last 5-10 years. Include client name and contact person (include phone number), location of work, project size, date of work, and brief description of work.

4. Quality Control Describe your quality control plan for this project. Describe how quality will be monitored to ensure the restoration outcome meets objectives, supervision of the work, and any applicable firm policies or industry guidelines pertinent to quality control.

GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED PROPERTY

The Government will provide the following items of Government property to the Contractor for use in the performance of this contract. This property shall be used and maintained by the Contractor in accordance with the provisions of the “Government-Furnished Property'' clause.

1) Superior National Forest map.

2) GIS shapefile showing GPS locations of some of the target weed infestations

3) Access to a water source at Seagull Guard Station

Data collected and reports prepared under this contract are the property of the USDA Forest Service. Data publication is prohibited without prior consent of the USDA Forest Service, Superior National Forest and the USDA Forest Service reserves the right to edit any potential publications. The USDA Forest Service will be acknowledged in any publications using such data.

SECTION C--DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK