ARRA_stock_packing_06282010.doc

STATEMENT OF WORK

STOCK PACKING SUPPORT OF ARRA TRAIL CREWS IN FY’s 2010 & 2011

OJAI RANGER DISTRICT, LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST

Work involves providing livestock and wrangler service to pack materials into remote wilderness locations. The work involves packing trail crew materials to trail camp locations on two separate trails. Trail crew materials consist of dry, cold, and frozen foods as well as large trail camp tents and supplies, and trail tools. The work also involves packing treated timbers in to the camp area. Packing of timbers is an unusual item and does require specialized experience to perform. The attached Schedule of Items lists the quantities required. Work is planned to be performed in the remainder of 2010 and the spring and summer of 2011 to coincide with planned trail crew work.

Work Locations and Requirements:

Road access to wilderness trailheads requires a four wheel drive trailer-towing vehicle or a four wheel drive flatbed-style stock truck.

To access the trailhead for Forest Trail 20W11, the Alder Creek Trail, drive north on A Street in Fillmore, California and merge with Goodenough Road. Continue north to end of county road. Proceed north on Forest Road 6N16 to its terminus at Dough Flat Trailhead. This is a total of 14.1 miles from Fillmore. Packing needs to be provided on the Alder Creek Trail, which starts at this trailhead and goes 3.4 miles to Cow Spring Camp where trail crew camp will be established.

To access the trailhead for Forest Trail 21W08, the Red Reef Trail, drive north of Ojai, California on Highway 33, turn right on Forest Road 6N31, the Rose Valley Road, then turn right after 3 miles and drive to Rose Valley Campground. Drive through gate and up steep grade for 2 miles, then left on Forest Road 5N08 to reach trailhead at wilderness boundary on Hines Peak Road, a total of 10.2 miles. After leaving Rose Valley Campground, roads are extremely rough and rugged and require a four wheel drive vehicle (mandatory). Packing needs to be provided from this trailhead to Lady Bug Camp along Red Reef Trail, a distance of 4.7 miles.

The Red Reef Trail is extremely treacherous at this time for hikers and stock animals alike. A large wildfire in 2006 burned up many sections of wooden retaining walls, causing the trail to slide in with rocks and scree and to be very difficult to find and to navigate. Local knowledge and experience with this particular trail is essential to effectively completing this work. To safely perform this work, the contract requires a minimum of five years of stock packing on this trail.

The timing cycle of packing for both the trail crew camps is: 1) Packing camp in; 2) Re-supply each camp three (3) times; and 3) Packing camp out. In addition, the Alder Creek Trail work will require that the contractor move the camp once to Alder Creek Camp, a one-way distance of 3.5 miles. This work activity involves packing only, not camp teardown and set-up. The three steps above span a 25-day period of time.

Besides packing in the trail crew camp, work also involves packing treated timbers in to near the Lady Bud Camp area. The timbers will be used by the trail crews to rebuild the retaining walls in this area, thus re-establishing this trail to Forest Service standards. There are 840 timbers measuring 4”x4”x6’ and weighing approximately 22 pounds each that need to be packing into this area.

There are also 40 treated timbers that need to be packed in to a designated location that is approximately 15.7 miles east of Piedra Blanca Trailhead along the Sespe River Trail. Each of these timbers measures 6”x6”x8’ and weighs approximately 70 pounds

In order to transport the large quantities of supplies, equipment, and food in a timely manner and to avoid spoilage, the contractor will need to own or have access to a minimum of 10 mules plus horses for each of the packers.

Finally, past performance of successfully packing large quantities of materials into remote locations will need to be demonstrated by the contractor.