Hand_Thinning _Piling _and_Fireline_Construction_Specifications_C.pdf

Attachment C-Hand Cutting, Piling, and Fireline Construction Specification

VARIABLE THINNING SITE PREP (Hand Pile)

DESCRIPTION OF WORK

Site preparation to prepare the units for tree planting for forest health and timber stand improvement by the use of chainsaws to cut the competing vegetation, culture the hardwood crop trees by thinning the multiple stems to 2-3 dominate/co-dominate stems, fall snags, buck slash for piling, prune leave trees, pile and cover slash, and construct fireline.

The project consists of an estimated 607.3 acres: 284.9 acres on the Six Rivers N.F. and 322.4 acres on the Shasta-Trinity N.F.

PROJECT LOCATION

The work site is located approximately 5 miles northeast of Hyampom, CA on the Hayfork Ranger District of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and Lower Trinity Ranger District of the Six Rivers National Forest.

Treatment units are in elevation, (1,680 to 3280 feet). See Attachment D-Map.

Maps: Included map shows the location of the treatment units, unit acres, and other topographic features and general vicinity.

SPECIFIC WORK REQUIREMENT

Leave trees shall generally be those of tallest height, live, largest crown ratio, consistent or increasing height growth, good leaf retention, good color and form, and straightest stems that are free of damage due to insects, disease, physical or mechanical causes. The Contractor shall select leave trees according to the following:

1. Retain all green conifers

2. Cut all dead standing trees less than 14 DBH. Larger diameter, but the best, sound snags shall be retained for wildlife trees. All of the larger snags that require felling for safety reasons, deemed by the contractor, shall remain on site, whole and unbucked.

3. In general, healthy single-stemmed dominant and co-dominant hardwood species shall be cultured. Thin the co-dominant and dominant clumps to 2 or 3 dominant stems. Desired spacing for these hardwoods is 20 feet with a range of 15 to 20 feet. If selection criteria for two adjacent trees are equal, leave trees in the following order: alder, maple, dog wood, chinkapin, madrone, and oak.

4. Conifers shall not count towards spacing.

5. Cut all shrubs greater than 1 foot high and suppressed and intermediate hardwoods within five feet of any leave tree.

6. Within 150’ of roads and private land, lower limbs of residual trees shall be pruned 6 feet from the ground. Trees less than 25 feet tall shall be pruned to the lower 1/3 of the bole.

7. Riparian Reserves within Units; there shall be no cutting within the inner gorge of riparian.

Riparian zones will be flagged in blue and white stripe flagging.

8. Noxious weed exclusion zones; known yellow star thistle infestations are flagged for avoidance.

Flagging will be orange, imprinted with “Noxious Weeds”. See work requirements below for details.

CUTTING REQUIREMENTS

• Cut brush, stobs shall be no taller than 3 inches.

• The maximum height of cut stumps shall not exceed 6 inches above ground level or 4 inches above natural obstacles.

• All live limbs must be severed from the stump.

HAND PILING SLASH AND COVERING PILES

The Contractor shall pile all natural and activity created slash at a minimum dimension of 1 inch diameter by 18 inches in length. Slash 8” diameter or less shall be piled. Material over the diameter specified shall be limbed and the limbs piled. Cut material to be placed in piles shall be bucked in 3’ to 5’lengths.

LOCATION OF PILE REQUIREMENTS

• Piles shall be spread out and not “stacked” above one another.

• No portion of the pile shall be under the crown of a living tree or within 5 feet of the trunk.

• No piles shall be placed within 10 feet of standing snags.

• No piles shall be placed within 10 feet of remaining downed logs greater than 20 inches in diameter.

• No piles shall be placed within 25 feet of private property boundaries.

• If conditions make it impractical to locate piles to avoid damage to live trees, a space shall be cleared and all material shall be piled in the cleared area. Cleared areas shall be made by locating areas where no conifers are present; then hardwoods would be cut, species preference for which to cut first shall be as follows: tanoak, chinquapin, live oak, madrone, alder, and big leaf maple.

• Cleared areas (openings) shall be no more than 75 feet. The Contracting Officer and or COR must approve alternate piling sites.

• Gaps in treatment may be allowed but must be approved by the Contracting Officer and or COR.

CONSTRUCTION AND COVERING OF PILE REQUIREMENTS

• Piles shall be constructed by aligning individual pieces of small material in the same direction and placing the heavier slash on top. Piles shall have a stable base to prevent toppling. The log axis of individual pieces shall be oriented up and down the slope. Protruding pieces over 18 inches shall be trimmed to allow covering in a manner that permits the piles to shed water.

• All piles shall be as compact as possible and free of noncombustible material. In general height shall be no less than 3 feet and no greater than 6 feet. Pile diameter shall not exceed 6 feet.

• In openings, piles may be up to 8 feet tall and 10 feet wide.

• All piles shall be covered with a plastic covering. Piles shall not be less than fifty percent covered, with the covering extending not less than half way down all sides. Pieces of burnable material shall be placed on top of the plastic covering to keep the covering from blowing off the pile.

FIRELINE CONSTRUCTION

• Construction of fire line is 2-foot scrape to mineral soil and an 8 foot clearance cut of overhanging branches and brush.

• Fire line shall follow the designated flagging but located to minimize fire spread, the use of natural barriers, and exposure to heavy loading.

SPECIFICATIONS FOR NOXIOUS WEEDS

• Equipment Cleaning (pressure washing): Infested areas known by the Forest are mapped. All off-road equipment and vehicles used for project implementation shall be cleaned of attached mud, dirt or plant parts before entering the project area.

• Progression of Work: Implementation of the fuel break shall operate first in areas that are least vulnerable and least infested and move from these areas to those areas of heavy infestation. This design features lowers the risk of spreading invasive plant seed. Progression of work areas (treat first, treat last) are identified on Figure XX in association with a section of Rt 4N20 in Section 30.

Implement units H-10, H-11, H-13, and H-14 last in progression of work.

• Vegetative buffer retention areas: Where cover of yellow starthistle is high along the road edge, retain existing native vegetation in buffered areas (boundaries flagged with orange noxious weed flagging). There are four such areas associated with the hand treatment units: H-1, H-3 with buffers on both sides of the road and H-2, H-5 and H-18 with a buffer on one side of the road. Figure XX displays the location of the buffers that range in length from 60 feet to 250 feet and on average 8-10’ in depth.

• Equipment operators shall avoid using turnouts, landings or clearings (or sections thereof) known to be infested with invasive plants, specifically yellow starthistle. These areas are flagged with orange noxious weed flagging.