Justification for Single Source - Facilitation and engagement services for the John S. McCain III National Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution (National Center)

This contract contains the requirements for the Contractor to provide professional services for the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation’s (Udall Foundation) John S. McCain III National Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution (National Center), in support of the USDA Forest Service Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) Advisory Committee and related NEPA Analysis project. For this project, the Contractor will work in close coordination with the National Center and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS/Forest Service), in facilitating a Federal Advisory Committee convened by the Forest Service consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

Significant changes in ecological and social conditions across the NWFP area require the U.S. Forest Service Regions 5 and 6 and its partners to evaluate existing management direction and landscape management approaches, as well as evaluate ways to promote sustainability, climate change adaptation, and wildfire resilience while providing for increased use and demands from the National Forest System within the NWFP area. These changes have been experienced first-hand through plan implementation. They are further documented in monitoring reports, the U.S. Forest Service’s “Science Synthesis to Inform Plan Revisions Within the Northwest Forest Plan Area” (2018) (Science Synthesis), and “Bioregional Assessment of Northwest Forests” (2020). The agency further recognizes in the “Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests” the need to address, at the landscape scale, the increased frequency, intensity, and scale of wildfires brought on by fire exclusion and increased fuel densities, a warmer climate, and continued development into fire-prone landscapes. 

The NWFP Federal Advisory Committee (“Advisory Committee”) is a discretionary advisory committee asked to provide advice and recommendations on landscape management approaches that promote sustainability, climate change adaptations, and wildfire resilience while providing for increasing use of and demands from National Forest System lands in the Northwest Forest Plan area. The Advisory Committee will consist of technical experts with a wide range of diverse perspectives to the NWFP project and support Forest Service’s NEPA analysis by providing the following, consistent with the NWFP Advisory Committee Charter:
• A draft engagement plan for NWFP stakeholders to support NWFP modernization effort,
• Preliminary and final recommendations on aspects of the NWFP that may need to change
• complementary public engagement strategies around the above recommendations,
• Preliminary and final recommendations on Proposed Actions that may be outlined in NEPA actions,
• Desired conditions and strategies for regional or subregional scale applications,
• Preliminary and final recommendations and advice on NEPA alternatives, and
• Prioritization of final recommendations developed by the FACA.

Advisory Committee recommendations will address the following considerations, consistent with the FACA Charter:
• Planning options, complementing the National Wildfire Crisis Strategy, that assist the Forest Service’s transition to greater proactive wildfire risk reduction and address key obstacles related to existing vegetation management.
• Approaches to address the dynamic nature of ecosystems that utilize adaptive management, monitoring, and integration of future uncertainty into land management planning.
• Application of the best available science regarding the following primary issues: 1) the ecological importance of older and old forests; 2) climate change, fire, and associated disturbance processes; 3) terrestrial and aquatic reserved land use allocations and the relationship between the two; 4) the climatic diversity of forests encompassed by the NWFP area; and 5) habitat connectivity at multiple scales in light of changed conditions.
• Consideration of additional indigenous traditional ecological knowledge, perspectives, and values into federal forest planning and management.
• Communication tools and strategies to 1) provide greater understanding of landscape or programmatic level planning options and requirements and 2) enhance outreach efforts, public engagement, Tribal consultation and participation, targeted outreach to underserved communities, and stakeholder collaboration within the scope of the Advisory Committee.
The Udall Foundation also seeks support to identify, design, and implement engagement and collaborative processes that will support the Advisory Committee’s tasks and strengthen relationships and engage Tribes, local, state, and Federal agencies, and the public in developing the recommendations.

The Udall Foundation will coordinate with Forest Service on implementing, to the extent feasible recommended internal engagement and coordination activities relating to the FACA requirements, including providing contractor support in terms of draft technical material development, technical writers for Advisory Committee deliverables, and speaker availability for engagement activities.

The Udall Foundation will work with Forest Service to post any required Federal Register materials associated with the Advisory Committee.

Awarded contract 959006-24-C-0001 to unknown vendor for unknown amount on 2024-02-22.