Short_Draw_SOW.doc

STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

Short Draw Fire Inventory and Treatment

1. Description: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has a requirement for invasive species inventory and treatment on BLM land within Powder River and Big Horn Counties in Southeastern Montana. Inventory of 4,949 acres of BLM land. Treatment for this project is 3,037 acres. In 2024 wildfires burned this area, Ventenata dubia is the main concern. BLM personnel have found an alarming amount of robust ventenata growing in the burned area this field season. Any additional weed species that are listed on the Montana Noxious Weed Species List shall also be identified and treated per the requirements of this SOW.

The contractor may reach the required acre amount for treatment prior to fulfilling all project areas. That is allowed. However, the contractor must follow all priority requirements for the project areas as described below.

IMPORTANT: The project area identified below (also shown in corresponding maps) shall be inventoried and treated in their entirety before moving to another priority area. For this to be accomplished, weeds shall be followed from one point of infestation to the end of all infestations within the same drainage. This may require hiking and/or backpack spraying. A priority shall not be considered complete and/or accepted if the area has not been inventoried/treated properly. The ventenata infestations must be mapped extensively in July/August. Ventenata is not visible in the fall, the contractor must rely on accurate mapping to treat specific infestations.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: Work will be performed from approximately August 11, 2025, through October 30, 2025.

Project 1: This project is called the Short Draw Fire Rehab project and is in Powder River County, MT.

This area burned in 2024 from a wildfire. There are a total of 4,949 acres of BLM land that was burned, the entire BLM must be inventoried and mapped for invasive species. Ventenata and leafy spurge is known to occur in this area. Once the infestations have been mapped, then 3,037 acres of the infested areas need to be treated. The priority spray areas are identified on the attached maps. The contractor shall begin with priority area one and continue through the priority areas until the 3,037 acres requirement is met. This means that there is a possibility that some of the latter priority areas will not be treated.

2.

The Contractor Shall:

· Have prior knowledge and experience identifying Ventenata.

· Submit a General Work Plan within three days of contract award. A General Work Plan shall contain the following:

· Schedule for starting and completing work.

· General description of operating procedures.

· Methods to ensure thorough coverage of the contract area.

· Methods of application, i.e., type of equipment to be used in various situations.

· Methods to ensure effective application of herbicide to all stages of plant development.

· Comply with Federal and Montana state pesticide laws.

· Be a licensed applicator for both general and restricted use pesticides and apply according to label specifications (Label Specifications are on the back of herbicide containers) and BLM guidelines within the H-9011-1 Handbook (http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/weeds/9011.print.html).

· Provide copies of pesticide application records for each application site, recording the date of application, start time, finish time, amount of herbicide, surfactant, and dye applied, application rate, type of equipment used, weather, location, pest treated, and acres treated on public land, and these will be submitted to BLM COR (Brenda Witkowski) every 2 weeks.

· Herbicides will only be applied by ATV/UTV mounted sprayer, truck mounted sprayer or by backpack sprayers calibrated not to exceed label rates.

· Adhere to the Standard Operating Procedures identified in Appendix 1 of this Statement of Work. Ensure that all personnel handling pesticides have read the appropriate MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET (MSDS).

· Locate and GPS areas of noxious weeds infestations within the specific sections listed (see maps). All areas must be mapped using GPS units and that information (metadata included) will be submitted every two weeks along with the Pesticide Application Records to the BLM COR (Brenda Witkowski).

· Provide a report describing your work with photos of treated sites. Inventory for new patches of noxious weeds on a continuous basis when in the project area. A minimum control of 90% is required on weed treatments. Performance standards are dead noxious weeds, standing noxious weeds with no developing (or developed fertile) flower/seed heads, and dead rosettes (rosettes present pre-treatment). The BLM will conduct compliance inspections of contractor treated sites.

· Responsible for watching weather and ensuring contract is completed on time.

· Provide the equipment and trained personnel to treat noxious weed infestations on public land as identified. Ensure all PPE and OSHA Standards are followed.

· Provide supervision to ensure the project is completed safely and herbicides are applied according to label specifications and BLM guidelines.

· The contractor shall be responsible for contacting the grazing permittees to schedule the herbicide application. The contractor shall return the confidential list of permittees to the contracting officer upon completion of the contract.

· Only used herbicides/adjuvants approved by the BLM (See Attachments 1 and 2).

· A pre-work conference may be scheduled upon award of contract. Contractor will be notified of conference date.

3.

BLM Shall provide:

· A list of BLM approved herbicides/adjuvants that can be applied on BLM lands.

· Maps of specific project areas.

· List of noxious weeds to be treated on public lands.

· Contact information will be provided for private landowners. Contact information must be returned to contracting officer at completion of contract.

4.

Communications and Invoicing:

· Contractor shall give weekly updates on progress to both the COR and the CO.

· Upon completion of field work and submission of all required data/application records, contractor shall give WRITTEN notice to both the COR and the CO via email. GIS data (meta data) shall be accurate and include appropriate points, lines, and polygons. Application records shall be completed properly and include all required information. Failure to give written notice of completion to both the COR and the CO may result in delay of inspection.

· The COR will complete a field inspection 2 weeks after written notification that the work has been completed, and all deliverables have been submitted.

· Contractor shall submit an invoice electronically in IPP only upon notification that inspection has been completed, and the work has been accepted. Invoices submitted prior to inspection shall be rejected.

5.

Data and Map Standards:

The purpose of this document is to address contract data collection standards, GPS accuracy and precision requirements, and data processing for GPS data collection and to make recommendations for standards in recording of positional data.

The FGDC specifies that the Geospatial Positioning Accuracy Standards be used to evaluate and report the positional accuracy of geospatial data produced, revised, or disseminated by or for the Federal Government. “Executive Order 12906 Coordinating Geographic Data Acquisition and Access: The National Spatial Data Infrastructure” designates the FGDC as responsible for setting these standards. (Appendix 2)

The NSSDA was designed to replace the National Map Accuracy Standard (NMAS) developed by the Bureau of the Budget in 1947. The applicability of NMAS is limited to graphic maps, as accuracy is defined by map scale. The NSSDA was developed to report accuracy of digital geospatial data that is not constrained by scale. The USGS used NMAS in the production of the topographic map series.

Characteristics of The National Map Accuracy Standard are:

• Horizontal Accuracy is 1-5 meters (3-15 ft)

• Vertical Accuracy is 1-5 meters (3-15 ft)

GPS feature types to be collected:

Point values – 0.10 acres. Each GPS point collected represents 1/10th acre.

Line values – 20 ft buffer. Each line value represents line length (ft) x 20 ft wide.

Polygon values – represents actual sprayed area contiguous but allows for aggregation of non-sprayed areas within the polygon.

Note: If collected line values, i.e., drainages, transportation corridors, goes beyond the allotted buffered distance, polygon collection must begin.

GPS Positional Accuracy SBAS (Space Based Augmentation System) should be used whenever possible. This removes the greatest source of errors remaining in the GPS error budget. Post-process differential GPS can be obtained from the Cors base stations available from the web or local community Cors base stations.

Real-time differential corrections and post land tied differential corrections should be always used.

Receiver-Specific Recommended Settings:

Garmin Map 72 and 76, 60 series, Etrex series:

1. EHE: less than or equal to 12 meters. This will keep you just within the NMAS for a 1:24,000 map, which is the maximum acceptable.

2. Minimum of 4 satellites (3D) for every position.

3. Enable the WAAS real-time differential correction.

** Note: Because neither of these units operating in autonomous mode can mask for GPS quality, it is up to the user to monitor constantly the Satellite page for quality. Noting that positions above PDOP standards can be delineated in post processing.

Receiver-Specific Recommended Download Best Management Practices

All Garmin Units:

Use the FREE Minnesota DNR GPS program to download and convert data.

http://www.gisdata.mn.gov/dataset/dnrgps Attribute Data Data dictionaries (e.g., Trimble) or data collection forms (e.g., ArcPAD) are designed to simply, efficiently, and without redundancy, describe features (landscape, biological, cultural, or historical). A data dictionary or form organizes data into types or ‘themes’ and reduces user error when entering values. It is an efficient use of time and energy to employ this type of data collection. Set up a menu and picklists in a database and load them into the GPS unit or data collection device prior to going out into the field. Create and use a data dictionary or data collection form whenever possible to collected attribute data.

Required fields for each individual record in your data dictionary: Project name (Name of Allotment, not “BLM”), Name of Applicator’s, date, time, type of equipment used, herbicide used, rate of herbicide, active ingredient per acre, actual area treated, total project area, invasive species treated, stage of pest development, and temperature.

Projection and Coordinate System All digital geospatial data should reference the coordinate system appropriate for its use and it should be documented in the metadata. All spatial data collected or submitted for national, regional, or network BLM programs shall be geo-referenced and provided in a standard projection. Digital geospatial data should be referenced to the following coordinate system—WGS 1984, decimal degrees. The steps used to get the data into the proper projection or exported from the GPS unit must be documented in the metadata. The contractor must specify and document any deviation from these projection standards.

GIS/GPS Contract Deliverables:

1) Data collected by GPS, digitized by tablet or hands on, or scale - scanned must be:

ESRI shapefile, geo-database feature class or ArcInfo export

Datum: D_North_American_1983 or WGS 1984

Have a defined projection.

2) Digital data will be delivered electronically, email is preferred.

3) Metadata will be attached as text or XML, to follow FGDC metadata standards as defined in link: https://www.fgdc.gov/resources/download-geospatial-standards. Metadata should be clear and concise only describing details about the data as defined by the FGDC standards. All seven steps described in the above link are mandatory and should be completed prior to submission.

APPENDIX 1

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES AND HERBICIDE APPLICATION

SAFETY, EQUIPMENT & APPLICATION

· The safety of the public shall be a primary consideration when conducting treatments.

· Contractor will provide sufficient clean water to assure the opportunity for workers to wash off any chemicals splashed inadvertently onto skin or in the eyes.

· All personnel involved in pesticide application must be trained and licensed. Protective clothing and equipment, as specified on EPA‑approved labels and the BLM H‑9011‑1 Handbook (i.e., coveralls, unlined rubber gloves and boots, safety glasses, hard hat, respirator, as appropriate) will be worn by workers directly involved in herbicide applications and by employees using hazardous tools/equipment. The applicator must have and maintain a Montana Pesticide license or be trained in the use of herbicide application and working under the direction of a licensed applicator. All personnel handling pesticides will read the Material Safety Data Sheet and the label for each product prior to handling or applying the pesticide.

· While mixing and loading, the individuals will wear appropriate protective gear as specified on the chemical label (examples‑‑‑ full length apron, face shield, unlined rubber gloves, liquid repellant footwear).

· Spray pressures for hand- held spray gun and/or boom will meet label and nozzle tip requirements. All equipment shall be properly calibrated before applications are made and to prevent gross errors in the field while mixing. Regular testing on field calibration and calculation will take place (once a month during use or more often if used frequently.)

· Spray nozzles on ground vehicles must be set to produce spray droplets with a median diameter of 200 microns or larger. Ground vehicle equipment will normally operate with a boom pressure of 20 to 35 pounds per square inch unless the product label specifies a different pressure. Backpack and/or hand sprayer application of liquid herbicide will occur with low nozzle pressure (25 lbs psi) and within 2.5 feet of the target plant.

· Herbicides will be mixed and loaded in an area where an accidental spill cannot flow into a stream or water body or contaminate groundwater. No mixing is allowed in riparian areas. Applicators are required to have an emergency spill kit to mitigate small spills. Spills of any size will be reported to the BLM MCFO.

· Low volatile formulations of phenoxy herbicides will be used to reduce the potential for off‑site contamination.

· Where vehicle and hand applications of herbicides are used, the wind velocity must be 8 mph or less, except in riparian areas where the wind speed must be 5 mph or less unless the label states differently. Do not spray when wind is less than 1 mph and no spraying when heat index in greater than 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

· Equipment shall be cleaned only in specifically designated areas away from waterways and reservoirs, wells, and stock tanks. All containers shall be triple rinsed and rinsate used in the spray tank. Containers will be disposed of at a state collection site for recycling, an approved landfill, or other specifically designated areas according to State, Federal, and County laws.

· The licensed applicator will provide copies of pesticide application records for each application site, recording the date of application, start time, finish time, amount of herbicide, surfactant, and dye applied, application rate, type of equipment used, weather, location, pest treated, and acres treated. Records will be completed within 24 hours of application and submitted biweekly or upon request of the BLM. This record will be maintained in the BLM project file.

· Fire Prevention and Liability: The contractor may be held liable for all operator fire starts. All applicable state and local fire prevention laws must be followed by the Contractor and the Contractor’s employees unless written direction is provided by the Contracting Officer. The Contractor shall have a safety plan in place. The Contractor shall be responsible for ensuring all equipment is operated and maintained in a safe manner, has means of communications before and after application, has a plan of action should a fire start, notify appropriate dispatch center or 911 immediately of the location and status of any unplanned ignition, and notify the COR and the CO immediately of any incident.

TREATMENT

Treatments will be conducted in accordance with applicable Federal, State, and local government regulations, including the Sikes Act (16 U.S.C. 670 eL seq.), as amended, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (http://www.blm.gov/flpma/), the Federal Noxious Weed Control Act (http://ipl.unm.edu/cwl/fedbook/fedweed.html) as amended in Section 15 of Public Law 93‑629. These laws and policy provide direction for BLM to coordinate with appropriate State and County entities and those related weed control agencies and to operate in harmony with State (http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/pubs/mt9605.html) and County weed control laws (http://mtwow.org/weed-laws.htm).

· Hand pulling and using hand tools to remove noxious weeds may be used when no other means are available to control or eradicate the targeted noxious weed. This method may be effective on new infestations. Gloves and protective clothing will be worn.

· Ordinarily, several considerations govern the choice of treatment method. The choice first depends upon the species of noxious weed. Treatment objective, topography of the treatment area, expected costs, and equipment limitations are implied considerations. Another consideration is the selectivity of the herbicides.

· Commercial products for noxious weed treatment will only be used if the noxious weeds are susceptible to the herbicide, i.e., that is with one treatment the herbicide will retard 90 percent of current years’ growth of the target noxious weed. In large dense stands, 90 percent control may not be realistic the first year.

· Effort should be made to reduce adverse effects of spraying on non-targeted, native plant species. These species are important for wildlife habitat, soil stability and visual resources.

ATTACHMENTS:

ATTACHMENT 1: Approved Herbicides and Adjuvants ATTACHMENT 2: Map of Short Draw Map Entire Project Area

ATTACHMENT 3: Map of Short Draw Map Project Area 1

ATTACHMENT 4: Map of Short Draw Map Project Area 2