Exhibit D.pdf

Exhibit D-Request for Proposal on Imperiled Species Surveys

SCOPE OF WORK

The work described herein will be completed by the CONTRACTOR on dates identified by project manager prior to initiation of project for an amount specified on each project’s approved purchase order per rates provided by the prospective contractor. All overhead costs, including travel and lodging, office supplies, and copying costs should be built into the rate schedule provided by the contractor. Meetings will occur as outlined in this scope and additionally when needed between the contractor, the project manager, and park staff to provide feedback and status updates.

Contractor should note that the purchase order agreement is subject to the standard terms and conditions linked to the

PO form. All deliverables produced as part of this effort become property of Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) but may retain authors name as a courtesy.

BACKGROUND

To adequately manage, monitor, and protect rare species on state managed lands and to coordinate statewide conservation actions for rare plants, animals, and vegetation communities in Colorado, the Colorado Division of

Parks and Wildlife (CPW) need the most current biological data and up-to-date detailed information on rare species and vegetation community occurrences across the state. Up-to-date spatial data will improve CPW’s ability to more accurately detect and monitor changes at individual sites and to develop appropriate strategies for management and conservation activities for Colorado’s rarest species and habitat communities. All of these activities are imperative for the implementation of the state’s rare plant conservation program that is required as part of the Cooperative Agreement between CPW and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dating back to 1980.

These activities are also imperative to assist CPW in compliance with natural resource policies and in meeting its mission to perpetuate the wildlife resources of the state, provide a quality state parks system, and to provide enjoyable and sustainable outdoor recreation opportunities.

Purpose of the Project:

Perform surveys for rare plant species, rare vegetative communities, and rare wildlife species in Colorado State

Parks as outlined below. Conduct field surveys in areas known to harbor numerous historical occurrences of rare and imperiled species and/or communities to verify current viability, status, and to improve spatial mapping accuracy. Conduct field surveys in areas of potential habitat for high priority rare species and communities. Fill any data gaps that exist to create a more comprehensive data set within the identified CPW parcels. Specifically, to conduct field surveys for rare species and communities at the following State Parks:

Park

Total

Land

Acres

Task A -

Target Species List

Task B – Survey for

Rare, Imperiled, Threatened &

Endangered Species

Task C –

Identify and map potential and occupied habitats

XX State Park TBD Y Y Y

XX State Park TBD Y Y Y

XX State Park TBD Y Y Y

DELIVERABLE DETAIL/OBJECTIVES:

TASK 1. Wildlife

The contractor will create an industry standard assessment for rare and/or imperiled wildlife at the identified parks.

The contractor will include each of the following activities per park wildlife assessment in order to complete a thorough assessment and fill any data gaps that exist at each park.

● conduct site visits to each park

● review the habitat conditions per species

● review the GIS and biological information overlapping the park

● research existing records and contact any relevant local contacts at or adjacent to the parks for sightings/background information

● survey the park for target species

a) The contractor will develop a list of target species based upon CPW data, NatureServe data, and other data sources for each site.

b) The contractor will develop a strategy and schedule for mapping CPW parcels at the appropriate times to find and document likely rare animal species (see Table 1). CPW will provide spatial data from previous studies

(e.g., vegetation, soils, breeding birds) from each park to support the identification of targeted survey areas and data gaps.

c) Known occurrences and suitable habitats for the target elements will be the highest priority for mapping efforts.

Areas targeted for intensive mapping efforts will be prioritized based on their likelihood of supporting occurrences of the target species.

d) Contractor will search in the field at each identified park, but will focus field survey efforts on the most likely habitats for the most likely rare species. The goal is both to search for new element occurrences as well as update/check the status on existing element occurrences.

e) For each survey site, the identified property will be completely assessed, with a focus on potential rare species habitat for the Parks targeted species. Projects will consider the entire Park property.

Special deliverables for this portion will include:

f) Clear mapping of any element occurrences of rare animal species such that they can be considered in future development planning. Standard data sheets will be provided by the project manager as needed.

g) Identification and mapping of habitat areas that are degraded and in need of restoration or revegetation projects.

This would be a GPS mapped point with plot numbers and notes. The intention is to identify areas that would benefit from reasonably feasible restoration or revegetation (i.e. invasive plant management, willow staking, combination of tamarisk removal/willow staking, upland seeding/reveg, etc).

h) Known rare species occurrences will be visited if over 2 years old; if documented in the past 2 years these occurrences will not be re-visited, but will be included in the data as current information.

TASK 2. Rare Plants

a) The contractor will develop a list of target species based upon CPW data, NatureServe data, and other data sources for each site.

b) The contractor will review selected search areas on Parks for rare plants. The contractor will develop a strategy and schedule for mapping these parcels of land at the appropriate times to find and document likely rare plant species. CPW will provide spatial data from previous studies (e.g., rare plant surveys, vegetation mapping, soils) from each park to support the identification of targeted survey areas and data gaps.

c) Known occurrences and suitable habitats for the target elements will be the highest priority for mapping efforts.

Areas targeted for intensive mapping efforts will be prioritized based on their likelihood of supporting occurrences of the target species.

d) Contractor will search in the field at each park, but will focus time on the most likely habitats for the most likely rare plants. The goal is both to search for new element occurrences as well as update/check the status on existing element occurrences.

e) Assessments will prioritize rare plant elements over plant community elements in the target areas. Plant community elements should only be updated and/or mapped as time and funding allows, after individual rare plant elements have been thoroughly inventoried.

f) Provide clear mapping of any element occurrences of rare plant species or rare communities such that they can be considered in future development planning.

g) Identification and mapping of areas that are well suited to restoration or revegetation projects. This would be a

GPS mapped point them with plot numbers and notes. The intention is to identify areas that would benefit from reasonably feasible restoration or revegetation (i.e. invasive plant management, willow staking, combination of tamarisk removal/native plantings, upland seeding/reveg, etc).

h) Identification and mapping of habitat areas that are degraded and in need of restoration or revegetation projects.

This would be a GPS mapped point with plot numbers and notes. The intention is to identify areas that would benefit from reasonably feasible restoration or revegetation (i.e. willow staking, combination of tamarisk removal/replacement with native plants, upland seeding/reveg, etc).

i) Known rare plant occurrences will be visited if over 2 years old; if documented in the past 2 years, these occurrences will not be re-visited.

ADMINISTRATION

a) The prioritization of scheduling and the amount of time spent at each park is to survey the park parcels as thoroughly as possible and at the most biologically appropriate times.

b) Dates and times for field work will be communicated to the project manager, so that CPW Resource

Stewardship staff may have an opportunity to accompany the contractor in the field to participate in the search and learn search criteria. Contractor will meet in person or via conference call, at least twice; once to schedule field dates in , once to meet with Park manager for coordination and preliminary findings.

c) Contractor will write a final report about the surveys. The report will be a concise summary (approx. 10-20 pages) which will be focused on the findings and the management needs of the elements present. Each report will include an introduction section, methods section, results section, habitat restoration recommendations section, and a detailed discussion of management implications/suggestions. All sections will include maps whenever visual communication of data is needed. The discussion section must highlight any new findings of elements, other significant findings, any major status changes of existing elements, and must include photos of the rare plants or animals, whenever available, and detailed management implications (threats, relationship to maintenance - ex: weed treatment, mowing), concerns of visitation proximity or visitor collection, etc.). In the discussion, mapping limitations must be discussed, including any difficulty in locating species due to weather, timing, terrain, etc. The report should also make suggestions about when and where future mapping may be needed.

Report Sections and Chapters:

A. Introduction

B. Methods

C. Results

D. Habitat Impacts/Restoration Needs

E. Discussion

a. New findings

b. Major status changes of existing elements

c. Photos of species identified

d. Management implications

e. Mapping limitations

f. Suggestions for future surveys

d) The first draft will be reviewed by the project manager. A final report will be submitted addressing comments from the project manager and include the addition of information that may be missing in the draft report.

e) The report will include clear maps of both the areas inventoried, as well as the survey findings.

DELIVERABLES

f) Progress Reports: Provide regular progress reports, submitted for the time period of each invoice, that list the species/parks that have been worked on, the type of work performed and the positions/personnel performing the work.

g) Element Occurrence Data: contractor will provide the following Data to CPW for all element occurrences on State Park lands that were visited under this Scope of Work.

● Level 1 Data consisting of an attributed ArcGIS geodatabase, including all source features (with buffer distance as an attribute) and element occurrences (EOs) for all EOs on State Parks that were visited under this Scope of Work

● Level 3 Data for all the above element occurrences (ArcView shapefiles only) for public display.

● These Data will be provided as a pre-packaged ArcMap mxd which links a GIS shape to its associated

.pdf file containing tabular data for that particular element occurrence or source feature.

● The ArcGIS files will be named with the following convention:

● L1_datatype_projectname_yearoffieldwork (e.g. L1_EO_field_survey_YEAR). The geodatabase will be provided with metadata as a text file. Associated transcription reports will be provided for all new or updated element occurrences which were collected as part of this project.

h) Draft Survey Reports: The results of field survey work will be included in a draft report that will be provided on dates identified by project manager prior to initiation of project. The field survey report will include a summary of the number and species of element occurrences that were added and/or updated from field work, a review of the success of the field surveys and recommendations for future survey work, as outline above.

i) Final Survey Report: Comments on the draft Survey Report will be solicited from CPW during the period identified by project manager prior to initiation of project. Comments submitted during that period will be incorporated into the final Survey Report. The final Survey Report will be provided electronically as a MS

Word document and as a PDF file, in conjunction with the database development products. All final deliverables will be submitted on dates identified by project manager prior to initiation of project.

STANDARDS:

1. All documents will be delivered in both MS Word and PDF and all spreadsheets in Excel.

2. Maps will be provided in hardcopy for digitizing, on a TOPO map electronic jpeg, or in a similar format pre-approved by project manager.

3. Point locations will be provided with GPS coordinates in the CPW Data Excel Spreadsheet with complete attributed information and with complete datum information.

4. Excel file and all maps will come with a metadata paragraph (a text file with the same name as the .xls ending in

.met) listing the project name, purpose of the project, who performed the work, when the work was performed, equipment used (such as GPS unit).

5. GPS coordinates will have full datum information provided and will be in UTM NAD83 CONUS Zone 13 and will be in decimal degrees.

PAYMENTS:

Please provide a budget on this work quickly to include an itemized price for each park and each task (i.e. individual costs for each Tasks A, B, C… at ABC State Park). This budget will reference the rate provided on page 18 of the RFP form which will include travel time and rates as related to each project location.

Invoices will be allowed per delive107567rable and with interim payments as percentages of deliverables are completed, but all invoices will reflect the percentage of the deliverable that has been completed as related to the total project budget.

● Invoice 1: Meet/Communicate with Project Manager, Park and SWA staff, conduct field inventories –

50%

● Invoice 2: Submit draft electronic deliverables – spreadsheets of species, maps – 15%

● Invoice 3: Submit final spreadsheets (including species & survey summary), draft Report, and draft

Appendices – 15%

● Invoice 4: Submit final Report with tables & appendices and Herptile Species List – 20%

PROVIDED by CPW (electronic):

1. Data management spreadsheet

2. GIS naming standard

3. GIS park names

4. GIS metadata standard

5. Park Specific information

a. Maps and GIS data – ortho background, park boundary, roads, trails, infrastructure, vegetation communities, water resources

6. Three Letter Park Code naming standard

Examples of park specific information:

Lake Pueblo State Park a.) The contractor will create an industry standard Assessment for Swift Fox at Lake Pueblo State Park. Surveys will take place in two locations; one south of Lake Pueblo Reservoir and one within the Honor Farm property. The contractor will conduct a site visit to the park, review the site conditions, review GIS and biological information, set traps, spotlight, and contact any relevant local contacts at or adjacent to this park in order to complete an industry standard assessment.

Determination of whether winter trapping or summer spotlighting will be used will be determined in the final scope based on effectiveness, timing, and funding.

b) The contractor will create an industry standard Assessment for Colorado Triploid Whiptail at Lake Pueblo State Park.

The contractor will conduct a site visit to the park, review the site conditions, review GIS and biological information, survey for the whiptail, and contact any relevant local contacts at or adjacent to this park in order to complete an industry standard assessment. Surveys will take place between June and August, preferably between June 10th and July 15th.

c) The contractor will create an industry standard Assessment for Townsend’s big-eared bat at Lake Pueblo State Park.

The contractor will conduct a site visit to the park, review the site conditions, review GIS and biological information, mist net and use acoustic surveys for the Townsend’s Big Eared bat, and contact any relevant local contacts at or adjacent to this park in order to complete an industry standard assessment. The contractor and State Parks will work to discern appropriate survey locations based on the presence of any mines/caves on Park property. Surveys will be completed between May and September.

Cheyenne Mountain State Park

a) The contractor will create an industry standard Assessment for Townsend’s Big Eared bat at Cheyenne Mountain

State Park. The contractor will conduct a site visit to the park, review the site conditions, review GIS and biological information, mist net and use acoustic surveys for the Townsend’s big-eared bat, and contact any relevant local contacts at or adjacent to this park in order to complete an industry standard assessment. The contractor and State Parks will work to discern appropriate survey locations based on the presence of any mines/caves on Park property. Surveys will be completed between

May and September.

Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area

a) The contractor will create an industry standard Assessment for Colorado Triploid Whiptail at Arkansas Headwaters

Recreation Area. Surveys will be conducted at three parcels that capture both the edges of the potential range for the Whiptail and habitat where it is more likely to occur. Parcels will be determined by using statewide data for the Colorado Triploid

Whiptail and communicating with Parks staff. The contractor will conduct a site visit to the park, review the site conditions, review GIS and biological information, survey for the whiptail, and contact any relevant local contacts at or adjacent to this park in order to complete an industry standard assessment. Surveys will take place between June and August, preferably between June 10th and July 15th.

b) The contractor will create an industry standard Assessment for Townsend’s big-eared bat at Arkansas Headwaters

State Park. Surveys will take place on up to three parcels that are most likely to have bats. The contracator and State Parks will work to discern appropriate survey locations based on the presence of any mines/caves on Park property. The contractor will conduct a site visit to the park, review the site conditions, review GIS and biological information, mist net and use acoustic surveys for the Townsend’s Big Eared bat, and contact any relevant local contacts at or adjacent to this park in order to complete an industry standard assessment. Surveys will be completed between May and September.