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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCanyon Loop Trail Improvement HMMP Svcs -Fee Proposal_Sched_CGJULY 6, 2023 CANYON LOOP TRAIL IMPROVEMENT HMMP PROJECT MANAGER/ RESTORATION ECOLOGIST SERVICES CITY OF DIAMOND BAR FEE PROPOSAL/SCHEDULE CA DGSCERTIFIED CGISBE AN EMPLOYEE-OWNED COMPANY CGI ESOP Canyon Loop Trail Improvement Habitat Mitigation Monitoring Program Project Manager/Restoration Ecologist Services City of Diamond Bar 64261 Fee Proposal - Letter of Transmittal July 6, 2023 Parks & Recreation Department City of Diamond Bar 21810 Copley Drive Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Dear Selection Committee: As a comprehensive environmental company with 44 years of experience, Chambers Group, Inc. offers the City of Diamond Bar (City) a full complement of in-house technical services. Our Restoration Ecologist/Project Management Staff have extensive experience in implementing and monitoring restoration and enhancement projects within a variety of upland vegetation communities including different associations of coastal sage scrub habitats. Our staff routinely collaborate with resource agencies such as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to overcome project challenges and we have successfully secured agency acceptance upon completion of compensatory mitigation on multiple habitat restoration projects. Chambers Group’s staff include skilled botanists knowledgeable in native and non-native plant species identification and control/treatment methodologies for those non-native weeds, especially for those species listed on the California Invasive Plant Council’s invasive plant inventory. Our Restoration Ecologists are trained using a variety of vegetation sampling techniques including those recommended by the California Native Plant Society (e.g., relevé assessments, rapid assessment methods, and traditional point-line transect methodologies). Our Restoration Ecologists are skilled at accurately utilizing ocular estimation (i.e., absolute or relative cover) from sample plots to assess vegetation conditions from a distance which minimizes trampling of native plants and disturbance to wildlife. Our staff are also crossed-trained wildlife biologists familiar with special status species such as the coastal California gnatcatcher and cactus wren and they understand standard resource avoidance and protection measures (e.g., nesting bird clearance surveys). Our Restoration Services Division is made up of botanists, biologists, licensed herbicide Qualified Applicators (QALs), landscape designers, certified arborists, equipment operators, and irrigation specialists, who focus on managing native southern California habitats. Having our own in-house Restoration Services Division provides Chambers Group the unique opportunity to experience all sides of a restoration project, which has prepared us to effectively author restoration plans or bid proposals, and subsequently implement such efforts from beginning to end. This is a tremendous benefit to achieving specific quantitative and qualitative mitigation performance objectives. Our staff understand the importance of advanced coordination with seed suppliers and native plant nurseries for plant material acquisition and we have good working relationships with many local native plant suppliers. Our staff understand the importance of frequent qualitative visits and regular coordination with the Restoration Contractor to meet performance objectives and address any potential plant health issues quickly (e.g., pest control, invasive plant infestations, nutrient deficiencies, soil compaction issues, drought stress) and recommend appropriate remediation measures. Our Restoration Ecologists have completed herbicide application training and have extensive experience monitoring herbicide applications, implementing safety protocols, and we have knowledge in unique species-specific weed abatement techniques. Current, Local Experience in Los Angeles County: Chambers Group and its team of professionals has the experience and understanding of local laws, ordinances, regulations, and policies. We are committed to ensuring that all restoration activities remain in compliance with jurisdictional regulations, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and related expenditure guidelines. We have worked with Los Angeles County providing restoration work in addition to cities of similar size to Diamond Bar throughout the County and Southern California. Canyon Loop Trail Improvement Habitat Mitigation Monitoring Program Project Manager/Restoration Ecologist Services City of Diamond Bar 64261 Project Manager with thorough understanding of Restoration: Chambers Group’s Project Manager, Heather Clayton, has wide-ranging experience with biological resources and restoration management. She will serve as the City’s main point of contact for this project and be an extension of your staff to oversee all aspects of the restoration project. Heather’s contact information is hclayton@chambersgroupinc.com, (949) 261-5414 extension 7421. Proposal Contact: As President, I am authorized to make legally binding commitments for Chambers Group, Inc. We are a California Corporation with the Headquarters office located at 3151 Airway Avenue, Suite F208 in Costa Mesa, California 92626. All information contained in this submission is true and correct. Should you have any questions, please contact me at (949) 261-5414, extension 7230 or via E-mail at mmcentee@chambersgroupinc.com. Chambers Group does not have any exceptions to the RFP requirements, scope of work, or specifications. All terms and conditions including insurance requirements are acceptable. Further, we are in receipt of all addenda to the RFP including the seven Questions and Answers submitted on Planet Bids. Included in this document are Sections 4 & 5 of the proposal. Below are the Fee Proposal and Schedule. We appreciate the opportunity to submit our proposal to the City of Diamond Bar. Sincerely, CHAMBERS GROUP, INC. Mike McEntee President Canyon Loop Trail Improvement Habitat Mitigation Monitoring Program Project Manager/Restoration Ecologist Services City of Diamond Bar 64261 4. & 5. Fee Schedule / Fee Proposal Costs: The services described in the fee proposal will be performed on a fixed-fee basis per task or as a per visit cost as in Task 5C. The costs for each task are shown below. TASK TASK NAME COST TASK 1 Meetings, Management, and Coordination $18,550.00 TASK 2: Qualitative Monitoring $30,440.00 TASK 3: Quantitative Monitoring $22,355.00 TASK 4 Year 5 Annual Monitoring Report $7,400.00 Total Costs $78,745.00 TASK 5 Other Direct Costs Task 5A: Optional Monitoring of Site Preparation and Weed Abatement $4,440.00 Task 5B: Optional Nursery Coordination – Native Seed and Container Plants $1,480.00 Task 5C: Optional Nesting Bird Clearance Surveys Per Visit $650.00 Scope of Work Task 1: Meetings, Management, and Coordination Chambers Group will provide the City with up to 100 labor hours of various Project Management support and oversight including third party coordination (i.e., CDFW and the Restoration Contractor), development of a Restoration Contractor bid package, quality control reviews of technical documents, three project site visits, and oversight of project schedules and budgets. This task also assumes brief as-needed quarterly telephone/virtual meetings with the project team (City and Restoration Contractor) Years 1 through 5 (twenty 1-hour meetings in total) with 20 associated deliverables (i.e., meeting minutes with one round of revisions if needed). Task 2: Qualitative Monitoring & Email Summaries Chambers Group will provide the City with up to 160 labor hours to conduct 33 separate qualitative maintenance and monitoring visits throughout the five-year monitoring program as presented in Table 6 of the HMMP (Section 5.3). Site visits are assumed to coincide with Restoration Contractor visits to maximize restoration maintenance oversight and monitor resource protections, particularly during the plant establishment period (PEP) and during nesting bird season. The Restoration Ecologist will verify adherence to herbicide application safety protocols, assist the Restoration Contractor with plant identification to avoid inadvertent native plant mortality, and verify special status wildlife species (i.e., coastal California gnatcatcher and cactus wren) avoidance measures are in place. This assumes nesting bird clearance surveys can occur the same day and prior to Restoration Contractor mobilization. In the event a special status bird species is observed nesting within or within the vicinity (e.g., 500 feet) of the project area and could be affected by crew maintenance activities, Chambers Group has provided Optional Task 5a below. The Restoration Ecologist will also conduct general assessments of the project site’s progress towards achieving HMMP performance objectives and success criteria (per Section 6.1 of the HMMP). Qualitative measurements include photographic documentation from pre-designated photograph stations, wildlife and floristic inventories, evidence of vandalism, and the condition of temporary fencing. Potential plant health related issues will be identified including presence of herbivory/pests, invasive plant growth, potential micro- and macronutrient deficiencies, soil compaction/erosion, or drought stress. The Restoration Ecologist will notify the City and the Restoration Contractor immediately of such issues and recommend contingency measures (if necessary) to progress the site towards achieving annual performance standards and success criteria outlined in the HMMP. Electronic summaries of qualitative data taken will be submitted within 2-weeks of the site inspection (1- to 2-page monitoring survey form plus photographs). Canyon Loop Trail Improvement Habitat Mitigation Monitoring Program Project Manager/Restoration Ecologist Services City of Diamond Bar 64261 Task 3: Quantitative Monitoring and Email Summaries Chambers Group will provide the City with up to 120 labor hours to conduct one quantitative monitoring site inspection annually from Years 1 through 5 between March and August (5 visits total) in accordance with methodologies detailed in Section 6 of the HMMP. Quantitative vegetation sampling will utilize the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) relevé method to visually estimate the site’s progress towards achieving the five-year Restoration (HMMP Table 7) and Enhancement (HMMP Table 8) performance standards and success criteria. Chambers Group Restoration Ecologists are skilled at accurately utilizing ocular estimation (i.e., for absolute or relative cover) from sample plots to assess vegetation conditions from a distance to minimize trampling of native plants and disturbance to wildlife. This will be especially beneficial during initial seed germination and the plant establishment period. Qualitative data will also be documented during the annual visit to support a comprehensive annual assessment of the project site. The Restoration Ecologist will notify the City and the Restoration Contractor of any immediate maintenance needs observed during the annual monitoring visit and recommended contingency measures (if necessary) to progress the site towards achieving annual performance standards and success criteria outlined in the HMMP. Annual summary memorandums (electronic) will be submitted to the City by December 31 of Years 1 through 4 (up to 10-page letter report with support graphics). Task 4: Year 5 Annual Monitoring and Report Chambers Group will provide the City with up to 40 labor hours to prepare a final monitoring report following the completion of all maintenance and monitoring site inspections in Year 5. This report will describe pre-existing site conditions, site preparation and implementation strategies (e.g., weed abatement and plant material installation), adherence to maintenance schedules, qualitative and quantitative monitoring methodologies, remedial measures (if necessary), general discussions on wildlife use, and detailed analysis of relevé vegetation sampling results as they related to achieving performance standards and success criteria outlined in the HMMP. Recommendations for agency concurrence of the site’s achievement of HMMP and permit/mitigation requirements, if appropriate, will also be included. The report will be provided to the City for review and include one round of revisions. When finalized, the report can be submitted by Chambers Group on behalf of the City to CDFW by December 31st of Year 5 of the monitoring program if requested. Task 5: Other Direct Costs Task 5A: (Optional) Monitoring of Site Preparation and Weed Abatement At least two pre-planting site preparation weed abatement events (e.g., weed whipping and herbicide applications) to be monitored by the Restoration Ecologist are specified in HMMP (Section 4.6.5). These two additional site visits do not appear to be accounted for in the 33 qualitative monitoring visits included in the bid document (Section “2. Qualitative Monitoring”). The 33 visits accounted for in the bid document appear to relate solely to activities occurring at planting time and into the five-year restoration program and exclude pre-planting site preparation monitoring needs (Section 5.3 Table 6). Additional site preparation and monitoring tasks include on-site harvesting of cactus pads (i.e., to verify the Restoration Contractor adheres to specific harvesting protocols and verifies true strains are selected versus the commonly occurring hybrids), monitoring installation of temporary exclusion fencing, and pin-flag plant placement efforts prior to installation. Having an experienced Restoration Ecologist on site to assist the Restoration Contractor in various pre-planting site preparation efforts will be highly valuable to the long-term success of the project. Therefore, we recommend including at least three additional pre-planting site preparation monitoring visits (up to 8 hours each) to oversee and assist the Restoration Contractor with the various site preparation tasks associated with implementation of the HMMP. Task 5B: (Optional) Nursery Coordination – Native Seed and Container Plants The HMMP (Section 4.5) recommends contracting with a native seed and container plant supplier three months before planting. This advanced nursery coordination (presumably to be initiated August 2023) does not appear to be specifically called out in the bid document. However, Chambers Group concurs advanced nursery coordination is pertinent to successfully implementing planting objectives outline in the HMMP. Nurseries can often run low on stock and coordination with alternative suppliers or species substitutions are necessary well in advance of plant installation. Canyon Loop Trail Improvement Habitat Mitigation Monitoring Program Project Manager/Restoration Ecologist Services City of Diamond Bar 64261 Chambers Group has strong working relationships with native plant suppliers throughout southern California and can provide up to 8 additional labor hours as part of this task to assist with plant material acquisition/coordination needs if necessary. Chambers Group assumes the cost associated with the purchase and delivery of plant material will be the responsibility of the City or Restoration Contractor. Task 5C: (Optional) Nesting Bird Clearance Surveys per Maintenance Visit The HMMP (Section 4.6.3) states that nesting bird clearance surveys maybe required during breeding season (February 1 to August 31) in support of project activities to minimize impacts to special status species including the coastal California gnatcatcher and cactus wren. The HMMP requires 300- to 500-foot avoidance buffers depending on the avian species if nests are active. Nesting bird surveys are typically done within 3 to 7 days prior to maintenance activities to avoid conflicts that may arise with scheduled maintenance visits. Verifying work areas are clear for access prior to crew mobilization is recommended to avoid risk to scheduling delays and budget deficiencies. The Restoration Contractor could perform at least 22 maintenance visits during nesting bird season throughout the five-year monitoring program. Chambers Group can provide up to 5 labor hours per visit for these 3 to 7 day look-ahead surveys during the 8-month breeding season should challenges arise with respect to sensitive species avoidance. The cost presented in the Fee Proposal is per visit and can be modified depending on habitat conditions. Billing rates of the Chambers Group team follow this page. Canyon Loop Trail Improvement Habitat Mitigation Monitoring Program Project Manager/Restoration Ecologist Services City of Diamond Bar 64261 www.chambersgroupinc.com COMPANY HEADQUARTERS 3151 AIRWAY AVENUE, SUITE F208 COSTA MESA, CA 92626 Costa Mesa Glendale San Diego Pacific Northwest CA DGSCERTIFIED CGISBE AN EMPLOYEE-OWNED COMPANY CGI ESOP