AwardedYWI-RFP-2026-03

Round Mountain Landscape Resilience Project — Phase 1: Fuels Reduction Contractor Services

YWI is seeking fuels reduction contractors to establish a ridgetop shaded fuel break on about 152 acres of BLM land at Round Mountain — hand cutting and piling on steep ground, roadside hand thinning with chipping and chip haul-off, and mastication or tracked chipping in the outer band. Three separately awardable Bid Items. Question responses and Addendum No. 1 were posted September 25; proposals are due October 2.

Awarded

This contract has been awarded to GP Development & Land Clearing LLC. Read the Notice of Intent to Award →

Project overview

The Round Mountain Landscape Resilience Project is a collaboration between YWI, the Bureau of Land Management's Mother Lode Field Office, Bear Yuba Land Trust, and local landowners to reduce wildfire risk on the south rim of the South Yuba River canyon, about three miles north of Nevada City. The project area covers 1,032 acres of BLM-managed public land and 160 acres of contiguous private land under conservation easement. Phase 1, funded by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Grant Program (Agreement No. 1817, Proposition 4), establishes a continuous, roughly 400-foot-wide ridgetop shaded fuel break along Rock Creek Road, Hudson Way, Merrimas Way, and Moonlight Trail — a key evacuation and firefighter access corridor identified as a priority in the Nevada County Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

This solicitation covers approximately 152 acres of BLM land within that fuel break, organized into three Bid Items by terrain and distance from the road: hand cutting and piling in steep, mechanically inaccessible pockets (13 acres); hand thinning, roadside chipping, and chip haul-off within 100 feet of road centerlines (75 acres); and mechanical mastication and/or hand thinning with tracked chipping from 100 to 200 feet out (64 acres). Proposers may bid on one or more Bid Items, each is evaluated separately, and YWI may award any combination to one or more contractors.

The desired post-treatment condition is a multi-age stand of well-spaced trees free of ladder fuels, favoring shade-intolerant pine, Douglas-fir, and hardwoods over incense-cedar, with retained snags, large downed wood, and isolated understory patches for habitat. Trees over 10 inches DBH are retained, residual trees are pruned to 8 feet under every Bid Item, and chip or mastication depth may not exceed 4 inches on average (Addendum No. 1). A separate contractor will fell up to 50 dead hazard trees along the corridor; limbing and processing that downed material is part of each Bid Item’s work. NEPA compliance is provided by the Round Mountain Landscape Resilience Project Environmental Assessment (DOI-BLM-CA-C080-2023-0029-EA), with a Decision Record and FONSI signed January 14, 2025; the project design features that govern the work are set out in Exhibit D.

Payment is by monthly invoice at the proposed unit prices for quantities completed, inspected, and approved, with no retention. The project is not subject to California prevailing wage requirements; the funding grant agreement was executed before AB 338’s July 1, 2027 effective date, so that exemption covers work in a second season as well (Addendum No. 1). Notice to Proceed is targeted for on or about November 1, 2026, but work cannot begin until BLM lifts its seasonal fire restrictions; work is expected to be substantially complete by February 28, 2027, with a possible second season (October 2027 – February 2028) with YWI approval. This RFP will be evaluated as a best-value process, not a low-bid competition. The pre-proposal field meeting on September 14 is not mandatory, but proposers are encouraged to attend and to RSVP by September 13.

Scope of work

Bid Item 1 — Hand Cutting and Piling (~13 acres): hand cut small-diameter trees and brush generally under 10″ DBH on slopes over 40 percent with foot access only, prune residual trees to an 8-foot crown base height (Addendum No. 1), and hand-pile all cut material to specification — tight piles no larger than 8×8×8 feet, off steep or eroding slopes, outside aquatic buffers, and away from driplines. Pile burning is not included; a YWI-supplied biological monitor is required within the 100-foot buffer around one perennial seep
Bid Item 2 — Hand Thinning, Roadside Chipping, and Chip Haul-Off (~75 acres): within 0–100 feet of the centerlines of Rock Creek Road, Hudson Way, Merrimas Way, and Moonlight Trail, hand thin trees and brush under 10″ DBH, prune residual trees to an 8-foot crown base height, move slash to roadside by hand and/or equipment, chip it, and haul all chips off-site for beneficial reuse — chips are not left on site in this band. Includes traffic control (signage and/or flaggers; MUTCD-conforming on Rock Creek Road under the County encroachment permit, no road closures) and documentation of chip destination and volume for grant reporting (Addendum No. 1)
Bid Item 3 — Mechanical Mastication and/or Hand Thinning with Tracked Chipping (~64 acres): within 100–200 feet of road centerlines, remove trees and brush generally up to 10″ DBH by mastication, hand thinning, and/or tracked chipping, prune residual trees to 8 feet, and retain all trees over 10″ DBH, leaving material on site at no more than 4 inches average depth and under 30 inches in piece length, away from the base of retained trees, and in a patchy mosaic that preserves existing groundcover (Addendum No. 1). Roughly 5 percent of the area will need hand thinning where slope, debris, or buffers constrain equipment
All Bid Items — implement the Exhibit C prescription: cut conifers 10″ DBH and under and oaks and madrones 7″ DBH and under except retention trees, cut all shrubs within 15 feet of road centerline and break up continuous shrub stands from 15 to 200 feet, keep hardwoods at an irregular ~15-foot spacing, retain sugar pine, blue oak, riparian species, and snags over 20″ DBH (up to 4 per acre), and process all dead-and-down fuels 1–10 inches in diameter, including the limbs and trunk sections of felled hazard trees (as revised by Addendum No. 1)
Environmental compliance per the BLM project design features in Exhibit D — Worker Environmental Awareness Training for every crew member, flagged cultural-resource avoidance, 100-foot and 50-foot aquatic buffers, a BLM-approved spill plan, equipment cleaning against invasive weeds, a 72-hour work pause within 300 feet of two perennial seeps after a wetting rain, and noise limits near residences
Access routes limited to slopes under 40 percent and decommissioned after use; flagged bicycle and pedestrian trails protected, with machine crossings agreed with the PM and any trail damage restored in consultation with Bicyclists of Nevada County

Process & timeline

September 3, 2026
RFP posted
Request for Proposals and Exhibits A–F published as a single PDF.
September 14, 2026
Pre-proposal field meeting (non-mandatory)
Held 10:00 a.m., commencing at the Coyote Overlook Trail parking area at the intersection of Rock Creek Road and Merrimas Way/Moonlight Trail, with a project overview, sample mark, and Q&A.
September 21, 2026
Questions deadline
Written questions were due by email to the Project Manager.
September 25, 2026
Responses and Addendum No. 1 posted
Answers to all field-meeting and written questions, and Addendum No. 1 with a redlined RFP and Exhibits B and C plus georeferenced maps, are posted. Proposals must acknowledge receipt of both on the Cost Proposal Form.
View Q&A and Addendum →
October 2, 2026
Proposals due
Single PDF, 10 pages max, by 5:00 PM PT with the subject line “RFP Response – Round Mountain”.
October 16, 2026
Notice of Intent to AwardCurrent
Sixteen proposals were received. YWI announced its intent to award all three Bid Items to GP Development & Land Clearing LLC.
View notice →
October 21, 2026
Contract award (estimated)
Fuels Reduction Operations Contract executed with the selected contractor(s).
November 1, 2026
Notice to Proceed (target)
Contingent on BLM lifting its seasonal fire restrictions; the actual date may be later.
February 28, 2027
Completion
Substantial completion per the Phase 1 grant schedule. Work suspended by weather, fire restrictions, or other causes beyond the contractor’s control resumes in fall 2027 (through February 28, 2028) at unchanged unit prices.

Documents

Latest updates

Addendum 01September 25, 2026

Addendum 01 — Amendments to the RFP and Exhibits B and C

Adds hazard tree information to Exhibit B: a separate contractor will fell and leave in place up to 50 dead hazard trees (about 60 percent in Bid Item 2, 30 percent in Bid Item 3, and 10 percent in Bid Item 1); limbing and processing the tops, limbs, and trunk sections up to 10 inches is part of each Bid Item’s per-acre price, and felling is not part of this RFP; and more. See all changes →

Newest Q&ASeptember 25, 2026

How many hazard trees will be felled by the separate contractor, and will the fuels contractor have to limb and process them?

Hazard trees along the corridor will be felled by a separate contractor under a separate agreement; felling is not part of this RFP. Up to 50 dead hazard trees will be felled and l… Read full answer →