Attachment 1 - Statement of Work.pdf

United States Department of the Interior

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Colorado River Valley Field Office

2300 River Frontage Road

Silt, CO 81652

Statement of Work – Sutey Bike Access Trail Project

1. Project Contacts: Alan Czepinski, BLM Outdoor Recreation Planner, aczepinski@blm.gov, 970-319-7965

a. Alternate Project Contact: Mike Pritchard, Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association, Executive Director, mike.pritchard@rfmba.org, 970-948-3486

2. Description of Work: Construct Sutey Ranch Access Trail on the BLM’s Sutey Ranch Property and the BLM’s Red Hill Special Recreation Management Area, as approved by the BLM’s

Colorado River Valley Field Office. Please refer to the project’s map for more trail information.

The trail is a bi-directional contour flow trail (optimized for bike use, but also open to foot traffic) that traverses mellow grades with sandy and occasionally rocky terrain in a forest of pinion and juniper trees. Limited ground cover between trees limits the need for corridor vegetation to be cut prior to trail’s construction the trail to be constructed includes:

a. Volunteer Built Portion: 1.57 miles (8,289 linear feet). The eastern portion of the trail will be constructed by volunteers using hand tools. Work will be coordinated by BLM, Red Hill Council, Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association, and Roaring Fork Outdoor

Volunteers. This portion will not require trail contractor services.

b. Professional Trail Contractor Built Portion, utilizing a 36” wide mini-excavator: 0.5 miles (2,640 linear feet). The middle portion of the trail encounters terrain with moderately steeper side slopes than the remainder of the project. Utilizing a 36” wide, or similar, mini-excavator will allow for efficient and sustainable trail construction techniques, while also providing a slightly wider trail bench to accommodate bi-directional traffic. The desired character of finished trail construction, while differing from traditional hand cut trail techniques, should match the hand-built portions of trail as much as possible through use of hand-finishing techniques.

c. Professional Trail Contractor Built Portion, utilizing hand tools only: 0.92 miles (4,857 linear feet). The western portion of the trail encounters terrain with mostly gentle side slopes but includes areas with loose rock and in some cases with grounded bedrock. To meet the character of the eastern volunteer hand-built portion, as well as the character of the existing Red Hill SRMA trails further to the with west, trail contractor will utilize hand tools and manual construction techniques only for this portion of the the trail construction project. Appendix B - Coal Basin Trail System - Erosion and Sediment

Control Narrative Page 1 Sustainable natural surface trail systems are designed to be low impact and low maintenance. Since erosion is the main cause for trail maintenance work, trail design and construction techniques have been developed specifically for the prevention of erosion. The trail surface will be compacted soil with occasionally embedded rock, and the trail surface width varies from 1.5’ to 4’ but is typically 2’ to 3’.

The maximum width of disturbance to construct the trails, including backslope, will be

10’-0”.

3. Location: The project is approximately 6 miles northeast of Carbondale, CO approximately 1 mile south of the intersection of Garfield County Road 113 and 112 on the west side of 112. T7S, R88W, Sec. 14-16., 39.452443, -107.198900. See Figure 1 in Appendix A.

4. Access: Administrative access can be granted to the contractor through BLM route 8296F which is gated. The Contractor will be provided a gate code and must lock the gate after entering and exiting Sutey Ranch. The Contractor must only travel on existing routes with vehicles. See map in Appendix A.

5. Period of performance: Trail construction may take place from April 16th – September 30th, 2021. Adverse weather conditions, presence of wildlife, soil conditions, as well as other considerations may limit construction periods. The BLM will notify the Contractor of any extenuating circumstances. The Contractor must comply with any extenuating circumstances limiting trail construction dates.

6. General work requirements include but are not limited to:

a. Trail construction must follow the approved, flagged alignment. If a deviation of more than

20ft is necessary, the Contractor must notify BLM Recreation Staff at (970-319-7965) for approval before proceeding. See project map in Appendix A.

b. The Contractor will maintain trail closures signs on the trail being constructed while construction is underway. The BLM will provide trail closure signs.

c. The Contractor and employees of Contractor may choose to camp onsite if camping is self-contained, including toilet. No utility or water hookup are available onsite.

d. Birds of Conservation Concern. If motorized trail building equipment such as a mini trail dozer is used to construct trail, surface-disturbing activities would not be initiated between

May 15 and July 15 unless surveyed and cleared by the CRVFO wildlife biologist or a contracted biologist to protect active nests for birds of conservation concern. Hand built trail will not require this measure.

e. Noxious Weeds. The community partners would be the primary parties responsible for weed spraying. The trails would be monitored for noxious weeds. If monitoring indicates weeds are present, then spraying and reseeding with a native seed mix will be used to treat weed infestations. All tools and equipment used for trail construction would be cleaned prior to entering the project area to prevent the introduction of weeds.

f. Cultural Resources. If subsurface cultural values are uncovered during operations, all work in the vicinity of the resource would cease and the BLM authorized officer would be notified immediately. The operator would take any additional measures requested by the

BLM to protect discoveries until they could be adequately evaluated by the permitted archaeologist. Within 48 hours of the discovery, the State Historic Preservation Officer

(SHPO) and consulting parties would be notified of the discovery and consultation would begin to determine an appropriate mitigation measure. The BLM, in cooperation with the operator, would ensure that the discovery is protected from further disturbance until mitigation is completed. Operations could resume at the discovery site upon receipt of written instructions and authorization by the authorized officer.

g. Native American Human Remains. Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.4(g), the holder must notify the authorized officer, by telephone, with written confirmation, immediately upon the discovery of human remains, funerary items, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony on federal land. Further, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.4 (c) and (d), the holder must stop activities in the vicinity of the discovery that could adversely affect the discovery.

The holder shall make a reasonable effort to protect the human remains, funerary items, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony for a period of thirty days after written notice is provided to the authorized officer, or until the authorized officer has issued a written notice to proceed, whichever occurs first. On the proposed equestrian trails several sections exist that exceed this grade guideline. Those areas will be evaluated in coming years and if small reroutes are needed to reach a more sustainable grade they would be authorized in a subsequent NEPA document.

h. Paleontological Resources. The applicant is responsible for informing all persons who are associated with the project operations that they will be subject to prosecution for disturbing or collecting vertebrate or other scientifically-important fossils, collecting large amounts of petrified wood (over 25lbs./day, up to 250lbs./year), or collecting fossils for commercial purposes on public lands.

If any paleontological resources are discovered as a result of operations under this authorization, the applicant or any of his agents would be required to stop work immediately at that site, immediately contact the BLM Paleontology Coordinator or

Recreation Planner, and would make every effort to protect the site from further impacts, including looting, erosion, or other human or natural damage. Work could not resume at that location until approved by the Authorized Officer. The BLM or designated paleontologist would evaluate the discovery and take action to protect or remove the resource within 10 working days. Within 10 days, the operator could be allowed to continue construction through the site or will be given the choice of either (a) following the

Paleontology Coordinator’s instructions for stabilizing the fossil resource in place and avoiding further disturbance to the fossil resource, or (b) following the Paleontology

Coordinator’s instructions for mitigating impacts to the fossil resource prior to continuing construction through the project area.

i. Long-term Maintenance. Long-term maintenance would be performed primarily by partners including Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association (RFMBA) with assistance as available from the BLM.

j. Visitor Information. Trail users would be informed of the trail work through press releases and signage.

k. Long Term Signage. Long term signage will be installed by the partners with BLM assistance to help users have a better trail experience. These will include trail name signs and maps within the trail system and trailhead signs and/or kiosks at a to-be-constructed trailhead.

l. Winter Closure. Partners will work with the BLM to install proper gates and signage.

Motorized trail building equipment (e.g., mini trail dozer) would not be used during the winter closure.

7. Sustainable Trail Design and Construction Criteria (Not all conditions and recommendations are applicable to this project): See Appendix B.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

• No equipment maintenance to be performed on site, any equipment in poor conduit and showing leaking of fluids shall be removed form site.

• Use of hazardous materials and/or petroleum products requires that all appropriate State and Federal

Regulations be complied with including, but not limited to, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) on hand and use of necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

• Maintain a spill-containment and cleanup kit appropriate for the equipment used. At a minimum, a kit for petroleum products should include: 1) plugs and clamps to control a hydraulic line break; 2) container(s) to catch leaking fluid; 3) shovel, and 4) absorbent material such as sawdust to absorb fluid if the soil is frozen.

• A release of any chemical, oil, petroleum product, or sewage, etc., (regardless of quantity) must be reported to the Bureau of Land Management – CRVFO Hazardous Materials Coordinator at 970-876-

9018. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) should also be notified, if applicable, through the 24-hour spill reporting line at 1-877-518-5608

• The Contractor will report all hazardous substance spills immediately to the BLM representative.

• The Contractor will clean-up all litter, fuel, hydraulic fluid, or lubricant spills and dispose of the hazardous materials including all contaminated: soil, water or vegetation; at an approved sanitary landfill or other location and in a manner approved by the BLM.

• The contaminated site must be rehabilitated as directed by BLM’s authorized representative.

• Protect County and State Roads from tracking of soil and construction materials, clean equipment as needed

FIRE EXTINGUISHER, EQUIPMENT AND STIPULATIONS:

It is prohibited to operate or use any internal combustion engine, on any timber, brush, or grass covered land, including trails traversing such land, without a spark arrester maintained in effective working order and meeting guidelines set forth in National Wildfire Coordinating Group Publication NFES 1363 and

2363.

During periods when fire danger is rated high, very high, or extreme as identified by the interagency Grand

Junction Fire Dispatch Center, the Contracting Officer may issue a restriction or closure order to the

Contractor. The contractor and employees must follow the order. At a minimum the contractor must have available a shovel, a class A-B-C fire extinguisher with a minimum of one pound of retardant, or a container with a minimum of 5 gallons of water and one axe/pulaski.

In the event a fire should start during construction activities, the contractor and/or his employees will immediately take initial action necessary to suppress the fire if it can be done safely. This will in no way relieve the contractor from any responsibility regarding suppression and/or trespass cost, in the event fire investigation reveals the fire was started by the Contractor and/or his employees, either through negligence or from operations.

INSPECTIONS/ACCEPTANCE

Inspection/Acceptance of all services performed in accordance with this contract for purpose of initiating contractor payment shall be by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).

STATUS REPORT

Notify Government of planned schedule 5 days prior to mobilization.

Provided an onsite visit has not occurred during the period, the contractor is required to report status of work when any special situations or problems are encountered or once a week (whichever is less). These reports may be made by telephone to the PI/COR. In the event of extreme weather or early snow, the

Contracting Officer will determine the best course of action based on comments from both the Contractor and PI/COR.

Notify Government of changes in time or material estimates as soon as possible to modify this task order set.

Appendix A: Figures

Figure 1: Overview map of Sutey Ranch location.

Figure 2: Detailed map of the Sutey Bike Access Trail

Photo 1: Characteristic landscape of the Sutey Ranch area including open grass meadows and Pinon and

Juniper forests on rolling hills.