B08- Solicitation-Attachment 1-SOW.pdf

Statement of Work (SOW)

Scope of Work: The contractor will work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Southwest Region (SWR), Zuni Agency to perform a rangeland inventory. This will consist of conducting a rangeland vegetation inventory and prepare a written technical report on Zuni Tribal and Zuni Individual Indian Allotment trust land. The areas to be surveyed are, as follows:

1. Approximately 406,513 acres of Zuni Tribal Trust Lands; and

2. 2,213 acres of Individual Indian Allotment trust lands located within the boundary of the Zuni

Reservation; and

3. An additional 41,445 acres of Zuni Tribal Trust Lands located adjacent to the Zuni Reservation within the Zuni Tribally owned Mazone Ranch. An approximate total of 450,171 acres will be surveyed. For more information, please see the attached map.

Survey Objectives and Purpose

1. The contractor shall perform a rangeland vegetation understory inventory to determine the similarity indices for the rangeland ecological sites occurring within each range unit; determine annual forage production, cover and frequency. This data will evaluate rangeland suitability and capability.

Suitability-forage value, cover and frequency compared with soil information groups (within the NRCS Major Land Resource Area (MLRA’s)). Capability-which includes delineating out 35% or greater slope (sheep units will be 45%), water bodies, rock outcrops, large bare ground areas, inhabited areas and any other no grazing areas. Rangeland grazing carrying capacity will be updated for each grazing unit. The rangeland ecological site descriptions developed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service can be used as comparative standards.

2. A range photo plot historical analyses will be done and re-established in accordance with old plots (where it is warranted, new ones may be set-up). This will demonstrate the visual change occurring on rangelands, which will serve as a backup to the data gathered.

3. Lastly, based on the data gathered and the 2007 rangeland inventory (the 2007 work and data will be provided to the new contractor), a range trend will be established for each ecological area, a separate range trend will also be developed for each range unit, and based on that a summary report inclusive of maps and tables shall be developed. This information will be used to guide management decisions, including making recommendations for appropriate stocking rates based on the range trend.

Specifications:

1. Altogether, there are 110 grazing units within the Zuni Reservation. These units consist of 98 Zuni

Tribal Range Units, one forest management unit located within the boundary of the Zuni Reservation, and an additional 11 pastures located within the Mazone Ranch. The contractor will reread transects within each range unit; as required and as done in 2007. Approximately, 450,171 acres will be surveyed and so, approximately one transect will be surveyed for each 500 acres.

Therefore, 900 transects need to be surveyed.

The old GPS’ed location data will be given for each site location. If it is not feasible to locate a transect within a particular ecological site, a review of the ecological site will be made by BIA personnel with the contractor. Field data will be collected from rangeland ecological sites, pinyon-juniper woodlands and grazeable forestlands.

2. The contractor will collect useable forage production data for ungulates using the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) harvesting method (see National Range Handbook) utilizing a double-sampling methodology. Green-weight samples of species will be clipped, collected and dried to determine air-dry weight(s) to accomplish an estimate of production (Estimate Correction Factor).

3. The plot size may be circular, square, or rectangular, but in all cases, the area within each plot will be equivalent to 9.6 square feet. Placement of ten plots spaced ten steps apart shall constituent one transect.

4. The contractor will determine the total weight of each species that is basally rooted within the plot by clipping and weighing the sample. Vegetative matter that is older than one-year will not be included in the sample. It will be sorted out prior to weighing the sample. The weight unit will be grams. The weight will be converted to pounds per acre.

5. Only the current year’s growth of twigs, leaves, and seeds will be sampled from shrubs that are basally rooted within each plot. If a shrub is partially rooted within a plot, only that portion of the shrub’s canopy that is rooted within the plot will be sampled. A nested plot quadrat will be used in any situation if shrub species occur in relatively significant populations within the range site being sampled, but did not occur in any of the smaller plots. It will be considered a relatively significant population if shrub species are 50% or more of the total cover within the immediate area. The area of the nested plot quadrat will be 435.6 square feet. The contractor will have the option of determining sampling weight units and then estimating shrub annual production within the nested plot based on the sampling weight units.

6. The actual location of each transect for the range sites being sampled, will be in a similar location to the 2007 study. Please note that the 2007 work and data will be provided to the new contractor.

7. None of the transect locations will be within a ½ mile radius of permanent livestock watering facilities. Slopes greater than 30% will not be surveyed and delineated as a no capacity area.

8. The contractor shall utilize the same numbering sequence as done in the 2007 study, where each transect within the Zuni Reservation Area, using an alpha-numeric index with the letter Z followed by a hyphen followed by a number representing the range unit, followed by a hyphen followed by a number representing the transect, for example Z-01-01. The contractor shall number each transect within the Mazone Ranch Area, using an alpha-numeric index with the letter M followed by a hyphen followed by a number representing the range unit, followed by a hyphen followed by a number representing the transect, for example M-01-01. The contractor shall plot the general location of the transect number onto a 7.5 minute USGS topographic map and collect Global Positioning System (GPS) location data using UTM grid coordinates, NAD 83 for Zone 12 and date the study areas. The grid coordinate for the transect shall be recorded on the Similarity Index Worksheet.

9. A photographic record will be made at each transect, taken forward and back. Whereby, a permanent photo plot will be set up. The photographic records, taken forward and back, will be digital in JPEG format and also will accompany final report in each range unit. If other records are found, a range photo trend will be accompany each transect per range unit.

10. Accommodations: The cost of accommodations and other related incidentals will be the sole responsibility of the contractor and/or its employees.

11. Provisions: The contractor will be furnished the range boundary delineations on electronic format using a current ARCGIS format. The vector format will be Geo Data Base. The contractor and/or its employees shall furnish all other necessary equipment and supplies, i.e., plot frames, scales, paper bags, clippers, compasses, GPS devises, vehicles, including reproductions of any maps.

12. Quality Assurance: It is the Government’s right and responsibility to have the best qualitative work done via it’s contracts. The contractor will submit a quality assurance plan through where they outline in detail how they will ensure quality assurance throughout the job.

Also, at its option, the government may provide a Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative and/or other designated personnel, including tribal personnel, to monitor work performance. The Zuni BIA Natural Resources Manager, Alvin Whitehair, will work with the contractor to ensure the work performance, which includes data gathering and computation, is at an acceptable or higher level. Collaboration on both the contractor and BIA Zuni Agency is very important for the success of this endeavor.

13. Commencement: The effective date of this contract shall be upon award. The contractor may proceed to carry out the scope of work upon receipt of a written notification to proceed. Field data collection will start towards the end of the growing season, from August 1 and be completed by December 31.

14. Deliverables:

a) Biweekly status reports will be provided to Zuni Agency Natural Resource Manager. It will include a brief synopsis of what was accomplished in what area, which will include a progression map.

b) DRAFT REPORT. The draft report will be provided to Zuni Agency 45 days before the final report, September 16, 2021. The POP end date is October 31, 2021. This will allow the Agency time to review the report, make comments, and recommendations. The Government will review, comment and return the draft report within 15 days of submission. The contractor will then have 30 days to finalize the report per the feedback received.

c) FINAL REPORT. The final report will be due by October 31, 2021.

i. Six copies of the final report of the inventory must be provided upon completion of the project.

In addition, the contractor shall provide the report formatted in Microsoft Word and presented in a computer accessible format. Pictures and graphics will be digitized in JPEG format.

ii. Six copies of the maps shall be provided upon completion of the project. In addition, the contractor shall provide all GPS data and any digital geographic data used in the project to the Zuni BIA Agency including metadata per feature. All digital geographic data shall be in the following format: ARC GIS 9.2 or earlier version. The vector format will be Geo Data Base.

UTM, NAD 83, Zone 12.

iii. All field notes and original data materials will be returned to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Zuni Agency with final reports.

iv. The final report shall be timely, readable and grammatically correct.

d) Contents of the Draft and Final Reports

i. Maps of the project area must be digitized by the contractor, delineating the range units, ecological sites and location of each range transect installed. Any information needed will be provided. GPS points will be re-established for the location of each of the range transects.

USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) soils mapping will be used for the base data maps. Maps will be produced using current ARCGIS versions. The vector format will be Geo Data Base.

ii. The contractor shall deliver to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Zuni Agency a summary report, as part of the final report. The report will include a similarity index, range health for each range unit (areas of concern will be highlighted), photographs-front and back, repeat photography layouts, the acres of delineation for each ecological site, a range ecological site map for each range unit depicting the range ecological site name.

iii. Grazing capacity establishment (acres per animal-unit-month; as a whole and for each range unit). The range maps will delineate suitability and capability, which includes delineating out 35% or greater slope features, water bodies, rock outcrops, large bare ground areas, roads, and any areas not being capable of being grazeable. The report will also include compilation of vegetative data, ecological site delineations, maps of the area and delineations, grazing capacity computation of the area, a separate range trend will also be developed for each range unit.

iv. Lastly, based on the data gathered and the 2007 rangeland inventory, a range trend will be established for each ecological area, and based on a summary report inclusive of maps and tables shall be developed. This information will guide management decisions, including making recommendations for appropriate stocking rates based on the range trend.

15. Miscellaneous The contractor will receive 25% after collection, 25% for a draft report, 50% for final report and deliverables.

a) As an environmental consideration, the contractor shall not litter.

Key Personnel

Position: Rangeland Inventory Supervisors Education: Minimum requirement-Degree in rangeland management or similar degree (I.e., rangeland resources) OR natural resources OR ecology with some emphasis in rangeland management or a similar area of emphasis.

Certifications: N/A Experience: 3 or more year of rangeland management experience with rangeland inventory experience.