ATTACHMENT 3 - SOW - CPF - SITE PREP - ROLLER CHOPPER.pdf

DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATION/WORK STATEMENT

SCOPE OF CONTRACT

The Contractor shall furnish all equipment, labor, materials, supervision, and incidentals necessary to perform Site Preparation on the Chippewa National Forest in a skillful and professional manner.

DESCRIPTION AND LOCATION

All sites are located on the Chippewa National Forest. A vicinity map will be provided with each schedule of items to show general locations. Sites will range from green timber sales to salvage sales, to non-harvested stands. Site specific maps that locate and show sites in more detail will be provided upon award.

Within these areas there will be pine and hardwood stumps and heavy slash from harvesting activities. Some project areas contain residual standing vegetation including conifer, birch, maple, and oak; these trees will be protected. Most sites have orange boundary paint around units. The Contractor will follow the orange painted boundary unless site boundary is flagged or painted in some other color of designation as directed by the COR, or the COR provides a digital boundary on a georeferenced digital map.

QUANTITIES

Acreage shown on project maps is traversed. Payment will be made on the traversed acreage. There may be unworkable areas within the units; unworkable areas exceeding one acre in size will not be included in the paid acreage. Total acreages, per the schedule of items, are good faith estimates and may be decreased or increased, within contract limitations, based on field conditions and timber harvest schedules.

PAYMENT

Payment will be made at the contract unit price per acre and by the number of acres completed, less any adjustments or corrections. Unsatisfactory performance will result in non-payment or re-working a site at the

Contractor’s expense.

The Contractor will prepare an invoice at the completion of each item (partial payments) or at the end of the contract (full payment) and payment will be processed at that time.

NON-NATIVE INVASIVE SPECIES (NNIS)

Areas, known by Forest Service prior to contract advertisement, that are infested with NNIS of concern will be shown on unit maps. A current list of NNIS of concern and a map showing the extent of known infestations is available at the Forest Supervisor’s Office.

Prior to moving Off-Road Equipment from a contract unit, with a known infestation of invasive species, to any other unit, the Contractor shall take reasonable measures to ensure each such piece of equipment is free of soil, seeds, vegetative matter, or other debris that could contain or hold seeds.

The Contractor shall identify the location of the equipment’s most recent operations. If the prior location of the Off-Road Equipment cannot be identified, Forest Service will assume that it is infested with seeds of

NNIS.

The Contractor must advise the Contracting Officer’s Representative of measures taken to clean Off-Road Equipment and arrange for Contracting

Officer’s Representative inspection prior to such equipment being placed in service or moved from contract units infested with NNIS to units that are free of such species. Contracting Officer’s Representative shall have 2 days, excluding weekends and federal holidays, to inspect equipment after it has been made available for inspection.

THE SCHEDULE

SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICE/COSTS

“Roller Chopper” Work

Chippewa National Forest

DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATION/WORK STATEMENT

SCOPE OF WORK

The Contractor shall furnish all equipment, labor, materials, transportation, maintenance, supervision, and incidentals necessary to perform mechanical site preparation with a Roller Chopper on the Chippewa

National Forest.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

A. Equipment shall have a Forest Service spark arrestor, fire extinguisher, and a safety canopy. The

Contractor shall assume all costs of operation and maintenance.

B. Roller Chopper will be mounted on or attached to a forest tree skidder or similar type. Minimum

Drawbar horsepower needed for the job is 100. Contractor equipment must be compatible prime mover

(150 HP minimum).

C. Upon prior written agreement, roller chopper drum may need to meet certain weight requirements for appropriate use in specified units.

D. Equipment will be inspected at the time of delivery onto the job. Equipment that does not meet contract specifications and requirements will be rejected. Rejected equipment will be replaced or the deficiencies corrected. Failure to correct such deficiencies or provide replacement equipment may constitute default.

E. Any failure of the Contractor-owned equipment which renders it inoperable will be promptly reported to the COR. The Contractor shall have equipment repaired or replaced within 72 hours.

PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS

A. All scarifying will follow natural contours whenever possible to minimize erosion.

B. The entire unit will be roller chopped, minus any unworkable areas. Consecutive passes of the roller chopper will be parallel to each other. Adjacent strips may overlap one another to ensure full coverage of the work area. Overlap should not exceed one quarter of the width of the roller chopper. Double chopping may need to be done in some areas. These areas will be delineated by the COR at the time when the initial single chopping is being done, before completion of the unit.

C. Deciduous trees less than or equal to 4.9 inches diameter at breast height (DBH) may be pushed over while conducting site preparation. Coniferous trees less than 5 feet tall may be pushed over while conducting site preparation. Coniferous trees greater than 5 feet tall will be left standing. All live deciduous trees greater than 5 inches DBH and all dead trees greater than 8 inches will be left standing.

Any tree with a painted orange slash or band will be left standing. Other size classes or species of trees may be left standing as directed by the COR or as directed by specific stand descriptions in the task order. Operation in stands shall not unnecessarily, negligently, or willfully damage residual trees. If unacceptable damage occurs, work may be stopped until the Contractor has displayed how the work can continue within acceptable standards.

D. Unworkable areas may include but are not limited to: rock outcrops, stream channels, piling areas, occasional clumps of trees, areas with adequate conifer regeneration, areas with too steep a slope for safe operation, and naturally wet areas which do not lend themselves to equipment work. Unworkable areas may be left after agreement by the COR.

E. Contractor will work with the COR to mitigate rutting and if necessary, rehabilitate unacceptable rutting.

Rutting should be prevented and confined to less than 5% of an activity area. Unacceptable rutting will be defined as: “Relatively continuous tracks dominantly in excess of 6 inches deep and 10 feet long.”

F. Contractor shall protect all known survey monuments, witness corners, reference monuments, and bearing trees against avoidable destruction, obliteration, or damage during the Contractor's operation.

G. No roads or trails will be blocked by slash or debris resulting from Contractor’s operations. Upon completion of each site and prior to moving to the next site, all trash, rubbish, and debris generated by

Contractor’s operation shall be removed from National Forest Lands. Damage done by the Contractor to roads, access routes, and trails in the area of the work shall be repaired by the Contractor and road restored to equal or better condition than those existing prior to project activities, at no cost to the

Government.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

Work on Items will begin on or about Mid August 2025 and must be completed by April 30, 2026. These dates are ESTIMATED as workable days within the Period of Performance are weather/moisture-dependent. 13 units (1 unit of 9 ac – WRD 9 on Walker District, and 12 units on Deer River District for

163.5 ac ) can be done on non-frozen soil. However, 2 units (28 ac – BD 7 and BD 8 on Blackduck District) must be done on frozen soil.