Sierra Cone, LLC

Sierra Cone, LLC, a Davis, California-based small business sole proprietorship, collects conifer cones, acorns, and forest regeneration materials for the USDA Forest Service and Department of the Interior as a prime contractor operating exclusively under small business set-asides and full-and-open designations on blanket purchase agreements and indefinite-delivery vehicles. The company holds 100% of its awards as prime contracts—72 total across recent years—with no subcontract footprint, and all work is performed in-house across western national forests and restoration sites.

Sierra Cone's customer concentration is acute and regionally defined. The top five Forest Service regional offices and the Forest Service Washington Office Acquisitions account for 98% of combined potential value across all awards. The Forest Service R5 Pacific Southwest Region dominates by award count at 40 recent awards, but the Washington Office Acquisitions anchors the dollars with a single $50 million national-scope Blanket Purchase Agreement (Land Management Integrated Resources National BPA, or LMIR) awarded June 7, 2023, running through March 6, 2033. Sierra Cone also holds a $4.5 million Indefinite Delivery Contract with R1 Northern Region (awarded January 12, 2024, through January 11, 2029) for cone and vegetation materials collection across Regions 1, 2, and 4 under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's Replant Act. The two top-customer rankings diverge sharply: R5 generates high task-order volume but modest individual dollar values, while the Washington Office vehicle and Northern Region IDIQ anchor the portfolio's strategic value.

Capability work centers on field collection of viable cones and needles from ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, sugar pine, Jeffrey pine, incense cedar, red fir, and white fir, as well as acorns and other vegetation materials essential for federal reforestation and habitat restoration. Representative awards include a $634,979 firm fixed-price BPA call from R8 Southern Region (November 10, 2025, extended to December 31, 2029) for 2025 cone and acorn collection supporting Hurricane Helene disaster response and ecosystem restoration; a $364,700 purchase order from the Oregon-Washington Region (August 18, 2025, through August 17, 2030) for Eastern Oregon cone collection; and a $70,125 BPA call from R3 Southwestern Region (September 21, 2026, completed November 16, 2026) for up to 700 bushels of ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir cones. Tree climbing is a core operational capability—multiple awards specify collection via tree climbing to access mature, high-quality seed sources from superior trees.

Sierra Cone's vehicle position is concentrated on two primary platforms. The $50 million LMIR national BPA (single-award, no set-aside used) serves as the strategic umbrella, with 13 task orders valued at $1.5 million combined across the portfolio. The Region 5 Cone & Needle Collection Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA 127EAS21A0005, single-award, no set-aside used) drives the highest task-order frequency with 18 task orders valued at $557 thousand combined. The Northern Region's $4.5 million IDIQ (total small business set-aside under IIJA) rounds out the major holdings. Smaller regional BPAs and purchase orders fill secondary lanes.

Activity has declined recently. The vendor recorded 15 awards in 2024, 9 in 2025, 3 in 2026, and 1 in 2027—a steep drop-off that tracks the 2023–2024 peak and subsequent taper. Only 5 awards with combined potential value of $287 thousand face ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, limiting near-term recompete exposure. Combined obligated funding across all awards sits at $3.2 million (5% of the $58.7 million combined potential value), indicating substantial uninvoked ceiling on the major vehicles. NAICS concentration is natural-resources focused: 46 awards are coded to Forest Nurseries and Gathering of Forest Products (NAICS 113210), with 25 coded to Support Activities for Forestry (NAICS 115310).

Sierra Cone operates as a specialized, single-capability vendor with direct agency relationships, geographic flexibility across western regions, and deep operational expertise in hazardous field work under federal land-management imperatives. The company has diversified slightly beyond Forest Service into the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service (a $5,325 purchase order from Region 1, May 15, 2025) and the Bureau of Land Management Nevada Region (a $14,300 purchase order, July 30, 2024), but USDA Forest Service work represents the overwhelming majority of its federal footprint.

Collection of seed cones from all species of forest conifers, specializing in blister rust resisent (BRR) sugar pine spurless climbing. 11 years experience.