Cow Creek Road Salvage Timber Sale A

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Florida Forest Service is procuring sealed bids for the Cow Creek Road Salvage Timber Sale A, a salvage timber harvesting operation encompassing approximately 587 acres within the northwest perimeter of the Cow Creek Wildfire area in the Black Prong Tract of Goethe State Forest in Levy County, Florida. The procurement involves the harvesting and removal of dead, dying, and green pine timber, with deliverables including salvage pine pulpwood, salvage pine chip-n-saw, salvage pine sawtimber, and fuelwood. The sale area is divided into two zones: a Primary area of approximately 399 acres designated for clearcut harvest and a Contingency area of approximately 188 acres subject to continued monitoring by the Forester-in-Charge. Key objectives include rapid response to wildfire damage recovery while maintaining environmental protection through designated exclusion zones around waterbodies and red-cockaded woodpecker clusters. All operations must commence within ten calendar days of contract execution, with a twelve-month contract term. Sealed bids will be opened on May 14, 2026 at 10:00 AM EDT at 5353 NE 39th Avenue, Gainesville, Florida 32609, with a posting date of May 8, 2026. Required qualifications include the capability to conduct timber harvesting operations and the capacity to obtain site review approval from the Forester-in-Charge, who will mark exclusion areas and designate timber for removal before operations commence. The successful bidder must not be obligated to harvest non-merchantable timber or timber deemed undersized or economically unviable by the Forester-in-Charge.

The procurement contains a significant restriction limiting bidders who win multiple sales: any successful bidder placing the highest acceptable bid on more than one of the three concurrent Cow Creek Road Salvage Sales (A, B, and C) must forfeit all but one sale to the next highest bidder to enable faster response and adequate equipment deployment. The document does not specify set-aside provisions for disadvantaged business enterprises, women-owned businesses, or other socioeconomic categories. No incumbent vendors or current contractors are identified in the procurement documents. The document does not provide a specified volume estimate or an explicit award value or budget range for this salvage timber sale. The Florida Forest Service reserves the right to reject any and all bids and to waive any irregularities in bids received. Interested parties may obtain complete bid information by contacting Kari Hurst at (352) 566-5221 or the Waccasassa Forestry Center at (352) 395-4933.