McLeod_Stewardship_Pre-bid_notes.pdf

McLeod Road Hazard Stewardship Pre-Bid Tour Meeting Notes July 18, 2017

Bass Lake Ranger District Office North Fork, CA

1000 hrs Introductions of participants.

Diane (Forest Service Timber Department representative) reviewed the contract specifications to mitigate the roadside hazards on Forest Road 5S07 (Beasore Road)

Contract bids need to be submitted to Patrick Gallegos, Contracting Officer at the Sierra National Forest headquarters in Clovis CA, by August 1, 2017 at 1630 hrs.

Meeting notes will be posted as an amendment to Fed Biz Ops (fbo.gov)

Contractors must be registered in SAMS (System Award Managements)

Completion date for the project is December 31, 2018.

This Stewardship project is a Firm Fixed Price contract.

Evaluation criteria for the technical proposal are located in the contract package and will be prepared in an essay format. Both a hard copy and electronic copy will be provided to the Contracting Officer.

Reviewed the Schedule of Items page 2 in Section B. Minimum acceptable offer for the Ccf is $.25. The Contractor will provide a price per acre to fell, skid, remove biomass and cull timber and pile logging slash. This project has two Payment Units PU#1 and PU#2 for a total of 94 acres. Blue flagging is hung along the boundary plus blue TS tags where the unit boundary line meets the road edge. Three pink flags will be hung on the road side edge to help locate the PU boundary edge.

Project area is 200 feet from the center line of the road.

Contractor needs to verify that Rio Bravo is taking logs.

Cut Tree Designation for roadside hazard trees: Whether or not a tree will be cut, is determined by the evidence of health in the tree. For example, a cut tree will have indicators such as brown needles, no needles, white marsh mellow size rot indicators on the bark, peeling bark and or needle color is starting to fade from a rich green color to a bronze dry green color. No paint on cut trees (unless they have recently died.)

All of the “green/alive” trees have been painted with a red DBH and BUTT mark. Any green/alive tree that is fading in color or has recently died, will be measured and marked at the DBH and a butt mark with blue paint by the COR or SA. These trees diameter will be documented and the volume will be calculated by the Sale Administrator.

Soil moisture levels will determine how long fall/winter work will be permitted.

Control Area locations will be provided on the Sale Area Map.

Lop and Scatter logging slash to 18 inches. Logs 4 feet and greater in length will be skidded to the landing pile. Logs less than 4 feet will stay on site. A question was asked, if small burn piles can be constructed with a skid steer type piece of equipment, as an alternative to skidding it to the landing pile? The answer is yes. Slash can be piled. All machine piles shall have a blade width fire line to bare mineral soil. Pile location shall be in open canopy and at least 10 feet or greater from the branches of residual trees. Piled slash shall be compact with no material hanging over the fire line.

Another question was asked; if a lone tree is standing in a brush field, can the tree be felled and left on site? The answer is yes, but the tree must be bucked up into 12 foot sections. Eventually after this project has been completed, the US Forest Service plans to pile the residual slash.

All tree falling and skidding activities will protect all residual conifer and oak regeneration and mature oaks.

The width of the project is 200 feet from the center of the road, except where there is rocky or steep geographical concerns.

All of the trees will be removed from site.

The tree volume is estimated. The cruise for the tree count was completed late winter.

Technical proposal: for example, Contractors will include their logging operation techniques, mechanical or hand felling, types of equipment to be used, and their operational plan. Proposals will be evaluated for Best value, not the lowest bid.

The Lite Greys Timber Sale unit is due north of the northern unit boundary. Blue flags have been installed between the two project areas.

1 1/2 times the height of the tree is considered a hazard, to the road.

The pre bid participants discussed the hazard tree definition as it is presented in the NEPA document, see Appendix B page 10/17.

No stump treatments are required.

LOP for the upper unit ending date is June 30th.

Noxious weed CA flagging is bright orange with black letters that spell NOXIOUS WEEDS. There are areas of Noxious Weeds the plants called “Broom” along Rd 5S07/Beasore Rd. Please keep equipment out of these areas.

Landing locations will be agreed upon during onsite operations.

All equipment arriving on the project will be visually inspected to ensure it is clean and free of dirt and seeds. The visual inspection is brief and will be documented on an Equipment Inspection Form. The inspection location will be agreed upon by the Contractor and the COR.

Onsite field trip reviewed both sides of Road 5S07/Beasore Road as we drove to the north boundary of the project. Parked at the Lite Grey TS landing and walked southerly to the edge of the road of PU#1.

Notes prepared by Francey Blaugrund COR