SOW_-_Recreational_Target_Shooting_Project_NEPA.docx

U.S Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management

Scope of Work for the Recreational Target Shooting Project Environmental Assessment

August 2021

Table of Contents

Scope of Work: Recreational Target Shooting Project Environmental Assessment

I. Introduction

The BLM plans to take management actions to resolve increasing conflicts associated with recreational target shooting activities at three locations on public lands in Santa Fe County, New Mexico: Buckman, Camel Tracks, and San Pedro Mountains. Issues associated with activities occurring at these undeveloped locations—where unconfined target shooting has become well established by the public—include public safety, waste accumulation, threat of wildfire, and noise. Two of the locations are in close proximity to residential areas.

The Taos Field Office is currently working with Santa Fe County, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, US Forest Service, and US Fish and Wildlife Services to develop a proposal to enhance recreational target shooting opportunities with developed ranges and to plan for other recreational opportunities at these locations.

The Camel Tracks area proposal consists of four key components:

· Development and operation of a recreational target shooting range within a 340-acre area located approximately 4.7 miles from the paved, two-lane CR 56

· Upgrades and maintenance of approximately 3.2 miles of road extending from the maintained portion of CR 56C

· Remediation of existing areas impacted by heavy, dispersed target shooting activities, involving up to roughly 100 acres

· Restrictions on fire-arm discharge in portions of public land in the area The Buckman area proposal consists of three key components:

· Development and operation of a small shooting range within a 34-acre area located approximately 4.6 miles along the gravel Old Buckman Road from Camino La Tierra

· Remediation of existing areas impacted by heavy, dispersed target shooting activities, involving up to roughly 80 acres

· Restrictions on fire-arm discharge in portions of public land in the area A proposal to resolve conflicts at the San Pedro location has yet to be determined. Options include closing and remediating the location or developing shooting lanes within the existing location. An alternative location for developing a shooting range may not be feasible on public lands in the general area.

This statement of work (SOW) focuses on completion of the initial, funded steps of the process and associated tasks. Tasks associated with the completion of EA for which funding has yet to be allocated are considered optional for the purpose of this SOW. Phases of the contract are identified under Section VII.

II. Objectives

1. To initiate an environmental assessment (EA)-level NEPA analysis with the allocated funding

2. Complete the NEPA process for this action, outlined under Section I, with EA-level analysis (optional, pending funding).

III. Federal Agency Responsibilities

The BLM shall:

1. Assign a COR for this BPA Call to act as a single point of contact for the contractor.

1. Assign a BLM Project Manager (PM).

1. Provide interdisciplinary team (ID team) participation as needed, which will be scheduled to the mutual agreement of the contractor and the BLM a specified number of days in advance of the facilitated meeting and at a BLM-provided venue. The ID team will provide necessary resource information based on the agreed upon schedule.

1. Edit and approve final decision documents(s).

1. Add to the administrative record (or decision file), if necessary, and review the final administrative record provided by the contractor.

1. Schedule internal agency review periods.

1. Maintain good communications with the contractor.

1. Update, compile, reformat, and furnish data from the BLM’s databases as needed for use in the NEPA document analysis and planning process.

1. Provide any existing GIS data pertinent to this action.

1. Assist with public affairs, media, and messaging.

IV. Contractor’s General Responsibilities

The contractor must be familiar with all laws, regulation, policies and guidelines related to the BLM NEPA processes, and have knowledge of issues-based NEPA.

The contractor shall meet with the BLM COR, BLM PM, and other BLM personnel on a regular basis. Consistent communication is vital to producing acceptable documents.

The contractor shall have demonstrated project management experience and the ability to meet timelines for completion of NEPA document page limitations, as applicable.

The contractor shall maintain good communications with the BLM and provide progress reports and hold meetings with the BLM on an agreed-upon frequency.

The contractor shall follow industry-standard and BLM-specific (where available and defined) geospatial and tabular data management practices. Additionally, the contractor shall consult with the COR prior to using licensed data that have distribution and use restrictions that may limit BLM’s ability to share the data with the public.

The contractor shall possess and retain competence in project administration and shall provide key personnel for this project who are appropriately qualified. If during performance of the order, contractor support key-personnel resign or are terminated, the contractor shall provide the Contracting Officer (CO) within 15 business days the proposed substitutes resume, as they should have comparable qualifications to the individual being replaced. All proposed substitutes will be subjected to a two-week trial period. Proposed replacements which do not satisfy the BLM during the trial period will be removed from the order at no cost to the Government. Any replacement or substitution of key-personnel would not result in project delays.

A Finding of No Significant Impacts (FONSI)—assuming such a finding can be reached—and Decision Record (DR) must be legally defensible and meet the requirements of applicable laws, regulations, court decisions, and manuals. The Quality Standards listed in Section X have been included to provide additional information regarding timing, products, and to help define the desired results BLM needs for this contract.

The contractor would be responsible for compiling, organizing, and maintaining the administrative record (or decision file) for the EA, including the incorporation of previously generated records provided by the BLM. The contractor shall be responsible for protecting all information used, gathered, or developed as a result of work under this contract. The contractor shall protect all Sensitive but Unclassified (SBU) government data. The contractor shall not make copies, screen shots or save SBU government data to be removed from the physical premises without explicit written permission from the BLM COR responsible for this contract. All information, work papers, drafts, and final documents developed or accessed, or any product/system developed are the property of the United States Government.

V. Contractor-provided Services and Materials

The contractor shall furnish all labor, equipment, supervision, transportation, travel, materials, supplies, and incidentals, except those indicated as government-furnished, to perform all work necessary for completion of this BPA Call, and to provide deliverables in accordance with the requirements of this BPA Call.

All data, metadata, analyses, documents, official records and other materials generated by the contractor under this BPA Call become government property and shall be provided to the BLM in a project record that meets the administrative record requirements of the agency prior to completion of the BPA Call.

All work, findings, determinations, and products related to the BPA Call are inherently proprietary to the BLM and thus, may be communicated with other parties only with the expressed written consent of the COR.

VI. List of Tasks

Task 1: Project Management

The contractor shall provide project management support to the BLM Project Managers as needed to ensure proper planning and implementation of required agency tasks, as well as monitoring progress to ensure the project progresses within a contractor-prepared schedule.

Communication is a critical component of this task. The contractor will facilitate internal recurring meetings as well as a series of interdisciplinary meetings during the development of alternative and preparation of impact analysis (via phone or video conference), including developing agenda and meeting materials. The contractor will also facilitate interdisciplinary team meetings that include the participation of cooperating agencies. Internal recurring meetings will occur weekly or bimonthly, as necessary.

Follow up to all meetings by the contractor will be necessary to ensure all action items are completed, including distribution of meeting notes and all other assignments identified during the meeting. A record of these meetings will be included in the decision file.

The contractor will maintain one or more secure, web-based sites (e.g., Microsoft OneDrive or similar) that will serve as the clearinghouse for document review for the duration of the project.

The contractor will also draft a monthly electronic newsletter, to keep interested parties appraised of the BLM’s NEPA process. The electronic newsletter will include updates on project status, issue identification, alternative development, project timeline, and other items of interest. The BLM will finalize distribute the newsletter using ePlanning and email.

Deliverables:

1. Project Schedule (see Appendix A for Preliminary Schedule). Due: 10 days after contract awarded, unless mutually agreed upon by PM and contractor.

1. Draft and final meeting agendas, information boards, handouts, and materials for meetings. Due: To be dependent on nature of meeting, however in general, final agendas for internal meetings shall be submitted no less than 4 hours prior to the meeting, and for external, public meetings final agendas shall be submitted no less than 10 days prior to the meeting. Final meeting materials may be distributed during the meeting, however drafts shall be approved no less than one day prior to meeting. Final meeting notes and records for project file. Due: No greater than 5 days following the meeting.

1. Draft monthly newsletter.

1. Project contact list.

Task 2: NEPA Compliance: EA-level analysis

2.a Scoping

The contractor will facilitate and conduct one public meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and one virtual, web-based public meeting, and document the meeting with notetaking. The in-person meeting will be held at a venue determined by the BLM in coordination with the contractor. The contractor will provide the platform for web-based public meetings. The contractor will provide for professional facilitation and, if necessary, English to Spanish translation.

The contractor will be responsible for drafting all public outreach materials, including a press release and Interested Public letter. The contractor will also prepare all necessary materials, including but not limited to the following:

· Sign-in sheets

· Foam-backed signs, maps, process flow-charts, and other necessary graphics

· Power Point presentation

· Agenda, if needed

· Professional facilitator

Following the close of the public scoping period, the contractor will systematically evaluate all public input, identify and organize substantive comments, and prepare a scoping report on the input received.

Deliverables:

1. Public scoping meetings

2. Draft news releases

3. Draft Interested Public letter

4. All materials described above for facilitating and conducting a public scoping meeting

5. Scoping Report: Due: No later than 15 days following close of scoping period (or a date agreed upon by the contractor and BLM PM).

2.b Draft Environmental Assessment—optional

Under the direction of the BLM, the contractor will prepare a draft EA in compliance with regulations at 40 CFR 1500, current Departmental policy, and the BLM NEPA Handbook (H-1790-1), including knowledge and adherence to page numbers, appendix, etc. The drafting of the EA will generally follow these steps—as agreeable to both the BLM and contractor:

The contractor will draft Chapters 1 and 2 of the draft EA. The BLM will review Chapters 1 and 2 and provide all comments to the contractor for corrections and revisions.

Chapter 3 will then be prepared by the contractor (based on the scope of issues and alternatives established in Chapters 1 and 2). The BLM will review Chapters 3 and provide all comments to the contractor for corrections and revisions.

A complete administrative draft of the EA will be provided by the contractor to the BLM and its cooperating agencies for review. Two electronic versions may be prepared for the BLM, a print ready version and a red-lined version highlighting all changes made since the previous version of the document. The contractor will correct and revise the administrative draft document in coordination with the BLM Project Manager. A comment matrix will be used to document and indicate responses to all internal and cooperating agency comments.

Review of documents may occur at the field office, district office, state office, headquarters, and/or solicitor’s office, and may also include cooperating agency review. A first round of reviews by the field office ID team is expected to proceed a second-round review by the field office, state office, and/or solicitor’s office and cooperating agencies.

Review periods may be 2-4 weeks, to be determined by the BLM in coordination with the contractor, as time allows. The contractor will set up a comment process that all internal reviewers will use, and a feedback loop will be built into all the internal comment periods. Collaborative editing may be accomplished through a mutually agreed upon internet cloud-based storage system (e.g., Microsoft OneDrive or similar).

Any final edits identified by the contractor or BLM project manager will be made by the contractor. The BLM expects the document to be 100 percent accurate and without any typos or misstatements, and that tables, figures, maps, headings, etc. are clearly understood and flow for readability.

The camera-ready EA will then be prepared by the contractor for posting on the project’s ePlanning webpage for public review and comment, in a format compliant with Section 508. The contractor will make all documents available to the BLM for posting.

During the public review and comment period, the contractor will facilitate and conduct one public meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with a virtual meeting at venues determined by the BLM in coordination and paid by with the contractor. The contractor will prepare all necessary materials including the following:

· Sign-in sheets

· Foam-backed signs, maps, process flow-charts, and other necessary graphics

· Power Point presentation, if needed

· Agenda, if needed

Deliverables:

1. Administrative draft of Chapters 1 and 2

2. Internal comment response document on Chapters 1 and 2

3. Administrative draft of Chapter 3

4. Internal comment response document on Chapter 3

5. Administrative draft of the EA

6. Internal comment response document on the administrative draft of the EA

7. Revised EA with all editorial changes and revisions made: one print-ready version for electronic distribution and one red-lined version highlighting all changes made since the previous version of the document.

8. Draft news releases

9. Draft Interested Public letter

10. All materials described above for facilitating and conducting a public meeting.

11. Public meeting

2.c Complete EA—optional

Following the close of the public review and comment period, the contractor will systematically evaluate all public input, identifying and cataloguing all substantive comments. The substantive comments will be organized in a Public Comments Evaluation Report that can be included in the EA as an appendix. The contractor will take a conservative approach to capturing substantive comments, including accounting for all unique or nuanced statements and, as necessary, providing unique and nuanced responses. The contractor will avoid overly generalizing comments such that they are lumped into broad categories and provided generic responses. The BLM will make the final determination as to which comments are considered substantive.

The contractor will draft responses to all substantive comments and coordinate responses with the BLM and its cooperating agencies. Responses will generally include (a) an indication that the document was changed and where the change was made or (b) a brief explanation as to why a change to the document was not warranted.

A complete administrative draft of the revised EA will be provided by the contractor to the BLM and its cooperating agencies for review, which will include the draft responses to public comments. Two electronic versions may be prepared for the BLM, a print ready version and a red-lined version highlighting all changes made since the previous version of the document. The contractor will correct and revise the administrative draft document in coordination with the BLM Project Manager. A comment matrix will be used to document and indicate responses to all internal and cooperating agency comments.

Review of documents may occur at the field office, district office, state office, headquarters, and/or solicitor’s office, and may also include cooperating agency review. A first round of reviews by the field office ID team is expected to proceed a second-round review by the district office, state office, headquarters, and/or solicitor’s office and cooperating agencies.

Review periods may be 2-4 weeks, to be determined by the BLM in coordination with the contractor, as time allows. The contractor will set up a comment process that all internal reviewers will use, and a feedback loop will be built into all the internal comment periods. Collaborative editing may be accomplished through a mutually agreed upon internet cloud-based storage system (e.g., Microsoft OneDrive or similar).

Any final edits identified by the contractor or BLM project manager will be made by the contractor. The BLM expects the document to be 100 percent accurate and without any typos or misstatements.

The camera-ready revised EA will then be prepared for publication in a format compliant with Section 508. The contractor will make all documents available to the BLM for posting to ePlanning.

Deliverables:

1. Public Comments Evaluation Report

2. Administrative draft of the revised EA

3. Internal comment response document on the revised EA

4. Complete EA with all editorial changes and revisions made: one print-ready version for electronic distribution and printing and one red-lined version highlighting all changes made since the previous version of the document.

5. Draft press release

6. Draft Interested Public letter

2.d Finding of No Significant Impact Statement—optional

The contractor will draft a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) per instructions from the BLM on its content, using a template provided by the BLM. The BLM will review the draft FONSI and work directly with the contractor to make revisions.

Deliverables:

1. Draft FONSI. Due: Prior to posting the EA for public review and comment.

2.e Decision Record—optional

The contractor will draft the Decision Record (DR) per instructions from the BLM on its content, using a template provided by the BLM. The BLM will review the draft FONSI and work directly with the contractor to make revisions.

All work, findings, determinations, and products related to the BPA Call are inherently proprietary to the BLM and thus, may be communicated with other parties only with the expressed written consent of the COR.

Deliverables:

1. Draft DR. Due: At the time Task 2.c is complete and delivered.

Task 3: Tribal and State Historic Preservation Office Consultation

The BLM, with support from the contractor, will continue to work cooperatively and collaboratively with State, County, Tribal, Federal, and municipal governments and agencies, as well as other interests, groups and individuals, throughout the project. The focus of this task provides for the successful completion of Tribal consultation in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) (36 CFR §§ 800.2).

3.a Ongoing Support

The contractor will provide ongoing support to ensure all NHPA Section 106 tasks are appropriately provided for, such as maintain contact list for participants in the Section 106 process, draft all communications with participants in the Section 106 process, prepare materials for individual meetings with Section 106 participants as needed, and meet with BLM personnel as needed to ensure all Section 106 tasks are appropriately provided for. All final, signed letters will be mailed (Certified) and tracked by the contractor.

3.b Government-to-Government Consultation

The BLM will be responsible for conducting government-to-government Tribal consultation, however the contractor will be responsible for providing support to BLM consultation activities by drafting communications for government-to-government meetings, following up with the tribes by phone and/or email after initial invitations and/or consultation letters have been mailed by the BLM, maintaining the government-to-government Tribal consultation contacts list, and identifying to BLM any requests by tribes for follow up consultation. The BLM will arrange any meetings with the Tribes, including notifying all parties of scheduled meetings, and the contractor will assist in logistical arrangement and prepare meeting materials, as needed.

The contractor will keep a log of all interactions with the Tribes and provide frequent reports of the interactions.

3.c Consultation with State Historic Preservation Office

The BLM will be responsible for conducting consultation with the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO); however, the contractor will be responsible for providing support to BLM by completing a Class I cultural resource overview, to include an inventory study of the project areas, and a Class III inventory of new disturbances in the project areas.

The contractor will utilize all relevant information tools including SHPO records and documents, BLM Government Land Office (GLO) documents, municipal and county records, and electronic databases including the New Mexico Cultural Resource Information System (NMCRIS) to complete the Class I overview.

The contractor will also provide a report on the Class III inventory findings as a basis for the BLM’s consultation with SHPO (and interested Tribes). The BLM will be provided ample opportunity to review and comment to the contractor on the report, and necessary revisions or additions to the report will be completed by the contractor.

Deliverables:

1. Draft communications (i.e., letters or emails).

1. Draft and final meeting agendas, handouts and materials for meetings. Due: To be dependent on nature of meeting, however in general, final agendas for internal meetings shall be submitted no less than 4 hours prior to the meeting, and for external meeting final agendas shall be submitted no less than 10 days prior to the meeting. Final meeting materials may be distributed during the meeting, however drafts shall be reviewed/approved no less than one day prior to the meeting.

1. Final meeting notes and records for project file. Due: No greater than 5 days following the meeting

1. Final record of all correspondence and interactions as part of the administrative record.

1. Complete Cultural Resource Report

Task 4: Complete Biological Evaluation—Optional

The purpose of this task is to research and prepare documentation necessary to satisfy the requirements of Section 7 (Interagency Cooperation) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) or other required permits.

The contractor shall prepare a Biological Evaluation (BE) with an ESA effects determination on listed species or critical habitat to serve as a basis for ESA compliance and the analysis of potential impacts. The BE will be included as an appendix in the EA. The EA will be prepared in compliance with BLM guidance and policy in a format provided the BLM.

The contractor shall develop, review, and finalize the BE, including any associated appendices and maps, in consultation and approval with the BLM. The contractor shall consolidate information, write the document and submit it to the agencies for review. The BE shall be completed by a competent, qualified, professional biologist with at least a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences. The agency review version of the BE shall follow a format acceptable to both agencies. The final BE shall reflect the BLM’s comments provided to the contractor on the draft version of the BE, the analysis of public comments from the comment period on the EA and responses to comments, and all revisions made to the completed EA. Coordination with the New Mexico Game and Fish Department will also be necessary to provide for consistency with State plans.

Deliverables:

1. One copy of the final BE in electronic format. Due: To be determined.

Task 5: Administrative Record

The contractor will maintain the administrative record (or decision file) for the EA. The contractor is responsible for compiling and keeping all records, documents and materials that comprise the administrative record. The official record must be in electronic format, with copies of all relevant documents scanned with a linking index and converted to PDF files and provided on compact discs or other electronic media as specified. A list of relevant supporting records can be found in the BLM NEPA Handbook, Appendix 10: “Items to Include in the Administrative Record.”

The contractor shall update the record on at least a monthly basis, or more frequently if requested by the BLM. The contractor shall compile and deliver the official administrative record to the COR with copies of all materials created, reviewed, used, or cited by the reviewers, including personal communications, electronic messages, and other non-published materials.

The BLM requires that all data collected under this contract be submitted to the BLM as a reporting requirement before the end of the performance period. Data are important products of the scientific enterprise, and they should be preserved and usable for decades in the future. Data must be in the form of individual data points used in the study, not just summaries. Metadata must be included that comprehensively explain all variables, conditions, etc., such that the results can be understood and replicated by others. Conduct audits of record as needed. The contractor is referred to the National Planning and NEPA Services BPA – PWS Task 8, “Data Management” for details on data and metadata deliverables.

The contractor must safeguard all information, including that which is received from, given access to, independently researched/gathered, or produced for the BLM. Any data provided in support of the NEPA analysis by the non-Federal party, which they feel is confidential, must be marked as such.

The BLM retain all intellectual property rights. Publishing of any product (either interim findings or final product) is solely at the discretion of the BLM.

The contractor shall support the assembly, organization, indexing, updating, maintaining and copying of documents for the administrative record as necessary for lawsuits and responses to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

The record will be subject to audit by the BLM Project Manager, COR, or CO at any time.

Deliverables:

1. All administrative record materials in electronic format on CDs or DVDs. Due: To be determined, but no later than the performance period.

Task 6: Outreach and Coordination

Stakeholder outreach and coordination will be required for information-sharing purposes. The contractor will maintain a current list of external contacts, organized by group (e.g., government-to-government consultation, 106 consultation, cooperating agencies, general interested parties, and individuals). The list shall include group name (if applicable), contact name, mailing address, email, and phone number.

The contractor will maintain a complete mailing list of interested parties, cooperating agencies, and other stakeholders throughout the project. An letters or materials requiring mailing will be handled by the contractor using US Postal Service or other carrier as necessary. Handling includes labeling and any costs associated with mailing or shipping.

As discussed under Task 1, the contractor will develop a monthly eNewsletter to keep the audiences informed on a routine basis, especially on the development of alternatives and how public comments were used.

VII. CORRELATION OF TASKS WITH BLANKET PURCHASE AGREEMENT – PERFORMANCE OF WORK

The tasks listed under Section VI of this SOW are outlined below to indicate their correlation with the 13 Tasks identified in the Blanket Purchase Agreement – Performance of Work (BPA – POW) for contracts to prepare NEPA-compliance documents as outlined in the interagency Ordering Guide.

7 – Administrative Record/Record of Decision 9 - Mailings

3 – Collaboration/Coordination 2-3

3 – Collaboration/Coordination

8 – Data Management 1-3

*Optional, pending funding

VIII. SCHEDULE

The period of performance for this SOW is anticipated to be October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022, during which all tasks described above will be completed.

See Appendix A: Preliminary Schedule for a general, rough draft timeline.

The BLM and the contractor will come to agreement on a comprehensive Project Schedule at project initiation (see Task 1). The schedule must comply with regulations and BLM policy on time limitations established by 40 CFR 1501.10.

Completion dates for deliverables from the contractor may be adjusted during the planning process due to delays caused by prolonged government review and approval. The contractor must have the ability to be flexible in dealing with unplanned delays in the schedule due to several factors, including but not limited to unresolved resource conflicts or public concerns, and scheduling delays triggered within higher levels of the agency. The contractor must be prepared to manage these potential delays and return resources to the NEPA effort upon solution of the delaying issue.

IX. DELIVERABLES

The contractor is responsible for timely submission of deliverables identified in this SOW. A schedule for due dates for deliverables will be agreed to by BLM and the contractor at the onset of the project. If a contractor deliverable is dependent on the provision of materials, data, information, etc., by BLM, due dates for BLM provision of these materials will be developed as well. Due dates for BLM provisions of materials, data, and information are not expected to take more than one to two weeks. If BLM does not meet agreed upon due dates, contractor due dates will be adjusted accordingly. It is not acceptable if a product is turned in to meet a time frame but does not meet the content requirements (and needs) of the task or document. The BLM retains the option to terminate this contract if more than two deliverables are late based on the timelines agreed upon.

Deliverables shall be addressed (subject to change) to the BLM Project Manager:

Bureau of Land Management Attn: Brad Higdon Taos Field Office 226 Cruz Alta Road Taos, New Mexico 87571

All submitted deliverables must:

1. Meet BLM requirements (quality standards), as required by laws, regulations, and guidance and

2. Be approved by BLM and Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) or Project Inspector (PI), to be determined.

All documents shall be published to BLM standards as identified by COR and/or Project Manager. The contractor shall work with the BLM for preparing all camera-ready documents. All deliverables will follow all publication or mapping standards provided by.

All maps for inclusion in the various deliverables including those for public meetings, display, presentations (other than regularly scheduled planning meetings), etc. are subject to a quality control inspection by the Taos Field Office GIS Division or the New Mexico State Office, GIS/Mapping Science Division. Each map must be submitted with enough lead time to allow for editing and final approval. See “Spatial Data Standards” below for additional information.

With each published document, the contractor shall deliver on CD all data used specifically in each document, and Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant metadata. The metadata shall include detailed process steps such that the process could be recreated from these steps if necessary.

Spatial Data Standards

Existing GIS data that has been used in the development of the Monument Plan/EIS can be submitted in its existing format, however any newly developed GIS data shall be in the format as follows. Frequent and often coordination with BLM GIS Specialist is highly encouraged.

General Standards:

· All GIS data developed by the contractor shall meet BLM accuracy standards for geographic data and shall be provided electronically for horizontal datum North American Datum 1983 with projection UTM zone 13N (EPSG WKID 26913) and vertical datum North American Vertical Datum 1988 (EPSG WKID 5703), in units meters, unless otherwise specified. The BLM is using the ESRI suite of GIS products, ArcGIS Desktop Advanced 10.8.1 and ArcGIS Pro 2.7.2 software version currently in use in the Taos Field Office. All GIS data must be in a file geodatabase format. All geospatial deliverables shall comply with applicable Federal and State BLM geographic information standards, particularly those determined by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) as supporting the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Data collected may be collected in any convenient datum for which there are adequate transformation to the specified delivery projected datum (with the exception of Z-enabled data, see hydrology and vertical survey geoid discussions); however, the National Spatial Reference System’s emerging to-be-named “Datum of 2022” and related terrestrial reference frames, geopotential datum, and gravimetric geoid will not be used until it has been evaluated by BLM. The contractor will provide complete geospatial data to include a spatial component, attribute information, and metadata.

· Spatial data will maximize use of the file geodatabase structure by utilizing appropriate subtypes, relationship classes, coded domains, and permissible ranges. Domains will be reused whenever possible to minimize the quantity named domains. Where used, fields leveraging domains will be QA/QCed for values inconsistent with prescribed domains. Repetitive outliers will be considered for update to the respective domain or the attributes will be corrected to an existing domain value. Subtypes which utilized different domains to populate the same field depending on subtype are permissible and encouraged when complexity warrants, provided that the metadata clearly draws attention to this functionality’s utilization. Fields which utilize a unique value will not require a coded domain or range. In order to minimize errors of omission, wherever possible, Null values will not be utilized. In lieu of Null values, attributes will instead be encoded with a more specific value such as Not Applicable, Not Evaluated, Not Analyzed, Unknown, etc. All spatial data will have at least one appropriate spatial index. All non-raster geodatabase data will utilize an appropriate attribute index to enable quick querying in addition to readily supporting joins and relates.

· Any automated geoprocessing tools developed to support analyses will be provided as a fully documented Model Builder toolbox housed in a file geodatabase. Similarly, any python or other language scripting will be documented and provided. All scripts must be capable of being compiled and executed on BLM systems using software approved by the National BLM baseline, save for modifications required to re-source file locations.

· All data utilizing the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) will be snapped to and topologically coincident with the Cadastral National Spatial Data Infrastructure (CadNSDI), version 2 or current version if a newer version is released more than 30 days in advance of delivery and will not appreciably impact the integrity of analyses theretofore completed. The feature dataset(s) containing CadNSDI-dependent data need not implement an actual topological relationship with the CadNSDI; however, close inspection will confirm effective topology in the absence of actual topology. The prevalence of slivers and gaps will be minimized; however, where topologic ambiguity resulting from various source data cannot be reasonably overcome, remaining slivers will be annotated as such using an attribute.

· Any proximity analysis performed will be calculated using geodesic methodology.

· Any intervisibility analysis performed will utilize earth curvature corrected for atmospheric conditions utilizing the default values present in applicable ESRI tools. The surface model utilized and vertical offsets of the observer and targets will be of sufficient horizontal and vertical resolution to capture and satisfy the intent of the analysis.

· Any survey data with a vertical specification will be collected utilizing the National Geodetic Survey 12B geoid model and orthometric heights will be subsequently transformed to the specified vertical datum. In the event that newer releases of ArcGIS software available to the BLM adequately support geoids during vertical transformations, this requirement will no longer apply; however, the metadata of Z-enabled data will explicitly reference if this transformation has been applied regardless of the available software generation available.

· Any data collected for the purpose of hydraulic modelling will be tied to a monumented and recoverable NGS control point with appropriate vertical accuracy.

Metadata:

· All data shall be accompanied by comprehensively populated metadata, free of errors, and complying with ISO 19115: Geographic Information Metadata standard (https://www.fgdc.gov/metadata/iso-standards) in accordance with the Federal Geographic Data Committee’s (FGDC) guidelines, the Geospatial Data Act of 2018, and OMB Circular A-16 in .xml format - to include fully and explicitly describing all coded domains and ranges utilized and each attribute field. The metadata shall adequately relate the purpose of the data, a description of the data’s lineage and a summary of how the data was derived, temporal constraints if applicable, the intended scale range, and a discussion of any assumptions or limitations of the data sufficient to influence proper future use of the data.

· All ISO 19115 metadata must be capable of being imported and processed by BLM Navigator (https://navigator.blm.gov/home).

· Additionally, ISO 19115 metadata will be transcribed using an automated crosswalk into legacy Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM), FGDC-STD-001-1998 (http://www.fgdc.gov/metadata); however, CSDGM metadata need not be validated for errors and completeness – the default output of any number of industry standard automated tools will be sufficient.

· In addition to stand-alone XML files, metadata will accompany the data and be discoverable utilizing the “Data>View item description…” context menu in ArcGIS Desktop or the metadata tab in ArcCatalog and similar functions of ArcGIS Pro.

· Any non-spatial, non-tabular data referenced by the metadata that is external to the deliverable will be included as a metadata attachment or the external URL will be provided.

· In some limited circumstances, feature level metadata attribution may be required as attachments, e.g., photographs or PDF realty documents such as a patent, where not otherwise prescribed by an agreed-upon data model.

Map products:

· All map compositions produced, to include maps that accompany report texts, will be provided as .mxd or .aprx files in addition to exported optimized layered, PDF files georeferenced to the NAD83 datum and UTM 13N projection in both RGB and CMYK colorspaces supporting both digital distribution and hardcopy reproduction, respectively. RGB colorspace files will not exceed 5MB in size when compressed using standard native Windows compression tools; CMYK files may be larger.

· All fonts utilized will be included in the exported maps and marker symbols will be vectorized when necessary to ensure that PDF maps reproduced on machines lacking the source fonts will be depicted exactly as intended in the original production environment.

· Maps will be Section 508 compliant. While this is often not practical and automatically effected by the production software, in order to be fully Section 508 compliant, all maps will have a substitute text narrative describing the geographic location on thin ArcGIS software documents, this will consist of populating the Title, Summary, Description, Author, Credits, and primary geographic location and theme Tags in the map document properties. This text will then be adapted to the Adobe Reader File>Document Properties dialogue box’s “Additional Metadata…” button interface. For maps inserted into text documents, this text will be further adapted and inserted as image alternative text for Section 508 compliance.

· All spatial product images inserted into text will retain the source products aspect ratio and all rasterized text will be readable and rasterized symbology must still key to the product’s legend. Products without readable text or indecipherable symbology will be rejected and returned to be recomposed, tailored for the target text-layout scale.

· A layer file for any symbology rendered on a joined attribute or combination of joined attributes will be provided to document the join(s) as depicted.

· Only symbols which appear on each product will be referenced by the legend. Features with a proper name and unique symbology need not be referenced in the legend if the feature is labeled.

· The spatial extent of all map products will be provided as a polygon index feature class including, as an attribute, 1) the title of the product, 2) the date or version of the product if multiple editions exist for the same or similar title and 3) the scale of the product if multiple scales exist for the same or similar title. In lieu of numbers 2) and 3) above, the exact file name of the product with file extension (such that it may eventually be used in conjunction with a destination base URL or directory path for hyperlinking and spatial discovery) may be provided.

· All products will utilize some form of location grid. This may be either a geographic or projected coordinate system, an existing survey system such as the Public Land Survey System, or a custom alpha-numeric locator keyed to an accompanying index. The grid or grids chosen should reflect the scale and purpose of the product.

· If a UTM grid is utilized, it will be identified on the map which grid zone is depicted (likely the UTM zone comprising the majority of the map). The UTM grid shall be rendered in the fashion of the U.S. National Grid (USNG) similar to the military Grid Reference System (MGRS). Where multiple UTM zones exist within the product, the longitude line(s) indicating the transition of one zone to another will be depicted, and the east and west sides of the longitude lines will be labeled with the appropriate grid zone. Where multiple UTM zones exist within a product, if a UTM grid is displayed, the grid used will be labeled on the map. If multiple UTM grids are displayed, they will be color coded and labeled accordingly. Ideally, only the respective UTM grid would be utilized within that UTM zone’s extent, but extended grids may be practical outside of critical applications, such as fire.

· When the PLSS is used as a survey system grid, ranges should be labeled horizontally in the margin along at least one horizontal axis. Likewise, townships should be labeled vertically in the margin along at least one vertical axis. Where the PLSS has suffered a correction (anywhere where townships do not form a generalized regular grid such that townships have been curtailed or significantly skewed), both the north and south or east and west margin of the affected axis (both if required) will be labeled.

· Products will use the UTM zone projection in which the majority of the data frame lies and will be labeled on the map. If the PLSS is used as a survey system grid, the data frame will be rotated such that the majority of townships depicted are approximately parallel to the map’s neatlines.

· Labels and text should reflect an intuitive cartographic hierarchy and labels must unambiguously identify features depicted. Features depicted should reflect an amount of detail or generalization required by the product’s scale and purpose.

· Elevations depicted on maps intended for aviation use will be absolute NAVD88 elevations in feet unless otherwise specified. The legend will contain a note about the datum used for elevations depicted. If depicted, the height of aerial obstructions will be given in both absolute elevations in feet and height above ground level in feet. The elevations of aerial obstructions will come from a Federal Aviation obstacle database. Supplemental obstacles' elevations will either be field verified by qualified personnel, or the elevation will be depicted as “Height Unknown” with a contrasting symbology and warning clearly identifying the unknown nature of the hazard.

X. QUALITY STANDARDS

All documents, materials and information submitted will meet all required federal, state and local regulations, including section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d) addressing access of information and information technology by the disabled, and 43 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1600. See website: http://www.section508.gov for information regarding Section 508.

All documents will be professional in appearance; edited for correct grammar and readability by the general public; free from professional or agency jargon, while maintaining a scientific base; minimize acronyms, include appropriate and clear maps and other graphics, and clearly depict management quotes, as referenced in the DOI’s Federal Plain Language Guidelines at www.doi/gov/plainlanguage.

Any website content shall be based on needs of the BLM Project Manager, and the New Mexico BLM Webmaster in accordance with BLM’s standardized template. Microsoft Word is the standard word processing format for documents; image or map files to be in format acceptable to New Mexico BLM Webmaster. Website information and released media materials, such as newsletters and media releases, will be reviewed and approved by the NMSO/FDO public affairs officer prior to publication, installation, use, or implementation, and the information provided shall be 100 percent accurate. Electronic information shall be fully and easily viewable and downloadable.

All final documents shall include 100 percent of new information available. The internal review version of the completed EA shall contain no misstatements and will be prepared with the assumption that no protests will be received from the public. The EA and associated documents shall be 100 percent accurate without any typos or misstatements.

See the BLM NEPA Handbook (H-1790-1) for additional guidance and format.

Appendix A: Preliminary Schedule

The following general, rough draft project timeline is well within the EA time limitations established under 40 CFR 1501.10.

NOI publication

October 2021

November 10, 2022

Scoping

November 10, 2021

December 10, 2021

Administrative draft EA

December 10, 2021

April 7, 2022

EA released for public review and comment period

June 7, 2022

July 7, 2022

EA complete and Decision Record signed

July 7, 2022

September 15, 2022 image1.emf