THIS SOLICITATION WILL BE ISSUED ON APRIL 12, 2010 2010 Mexican Spotted Owl Territory Monitoring Magdalena Ranger District Cibola National Forest SECTION C—DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK C.1 OBJECTIVE OF MONITORING CONTRACT The contractor shall furnish all labor, supervision, supplies, transportation, equipment and materials (except for Government furnished property) needed to conduct formal monitoring of sixteen known Mexican spotted owl (MSO) Protected Activity Centers (PACs) in the San Mateo and Magdalena Mountains of central New Mexico. All monitoring will be done according to established protocol to determine presence/absence and reproductive success. The contractor shall submit completed forms, maps, digital images and a final report of all findings. General A four-wheel drive vehicle is recommended, but not necessary. Conditions of track roads can be poor when wet. Some of the access roads can be rough. The 2010 weather is forecast for warm temperatures and continued dry conditions. The entire Cibola National Forest was under Fire Restrictions in 2006. Campfires, charcoal grills and stove fires were prohibited on national forest lands except in developed camp and picnic grounds where grills were provided. Smoking was allowed within an enclosed vehicle or building; a developed recreation site; or while stopped in an area at least three feet in diameter and free of all flammable material. If dry conditions continue, the District may be under a total closure again during the 2010 MSO monitoring season. In that case, the contractor may be given specific written permission to continue survey work during the closure. Mexican spotted owl Monitoring MSO monitoring may be performed beginning as soon as April 16, 2010 and will be completed by August 31, 2010. Upon completion of the field survey, the Contractor shall have 21 calendar days to deliver the Final Report to the COR. Informal monitoring and/or pre-calling daytime visits may be done to known nest sites within MSO PACs during dates established in the MSO protocol included in this package (Pre-calling Daytime Visits). If MSO are located during informal and/or pre-calling visits, only reproductive success visits would need to be done thereafter. If MSO are not located during daytime visits, formal MSO monitoring shall be performed according to the MSO protocol attached to this contract package. Only the actual PAC areas need formal monitoring. Any location marking method, such as flagging or Brite Eyes, may be used to mark calling routes or routes to nest/roost locations. All markers placed during this contract must be removed at the conclusion of the contract. GPS locations will be taken for each route and placed on the standard topographic maps described above. If a MSO flies or appears to be located on private land, no attempts will be made to cross ownership boundaries. Contractor will show direction of flight on a map included in the final report, or estimate the location of the area a MSO appears to be located in. It is the contractor’s responsibility to assure all persons conducting the monitoring work meet training and certification requirements. Proof of training and required Region 3 certification shall be provided to the Contracting Officer prior to award, for crew leaders and preferably all crewmembers. (Crewmembers certified after award of contract must show certification prior to initiation of fieldwork). Monitoring information shall be documented on the MSO monitoring forms (attached). It is the responsibility of the Contractor to determine local conditions affecting road access to each site. Notify the COR within 2 working days if weather caused road inaccessibility (on an open road) is delaying work. C.4 REPORTING REQUIREMENTS All required forms (inventory, daytime follow-up, etc) shall be completed in accordance with the protocol/guideline requirements and shall be submitted in accordance with the specifications in C and as part of the Deliverables, as specified in C. Any spotted owl nest or roost trees located shall be photo-documented in daytime on digital format and labeled with Ranger District, UTM, content of photo (i.e. nest site, roost site, MSO chick, MSO female, etc) and date. Original digital image shall become property of the Government. At least one nest tree photo will be from enough distance to show the entire tree. Locations of active MSO nest sites other than those previously active shall be plotted on the topographic map and shall be cross-referenced in the report. Use UTM’s to describe the nest site on the topographic map. GPS coordinates shall be provided by the contractor. Active spotted owl PAC’s shall be reported to the COR within 2 working days. These shall be reported by PAC name, unless a new territory is discovered at which time a PAC name will be determined by the agency biologist.

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