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; a non-mandatory pre-proposal field meeting is September 14.
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 unless marked, residual trees are pruned to 8 feet, and chip or mastication depth may not exceed 4 inches on average. 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, though contracts initiated or amended after July 1, 2027 would be. 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, 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, drag slash to roadside, 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) and documentation of chip destination and volume for grant reporting
- 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, leaving material on site at no more than 4 inches average depth, away from the base of retained trees, and in a patchy mosaic that preserves existing groundcover. 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, oaks, and madrones 10″ DBH and under except retention trees, keep hardwoods at an irregular ~25-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
- 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, 2026RFP postedCurrent
Request for Proposals and Exhibits A–F published as a single PDF.
- September 14, 2026Pre-proposal field meeting (non-mandatory)
10:00 a.m., commencing at the Coyote Overlook Trail parking area at the intersection of Rock Creek Road and Merrimas Way/Moonlight Trail. Project overview, sample mark, vegetation conditions, and Q&A. RSVP by email by September 13.
- September 21, 2026Questions deadline
Written questions due by email to the Project Manager.
- September 25, 2026Responses & any addenda posted
Answers to written and field-meeting questions, and any addenda, posted here. Proposals must acknowledge receipt of both.
View Q&A → - October 2, 2026Proposals due
Single PDF, 10 pages max, by 5:00 PM PT with the subject line “RFP Response – Round Mountain”.
- October 16, 2026Notice of intent to award
Evaluation complete; intent to award announced by Bid Item.
- October 21, 2026Contract award (estimated)
Fuels Reduction Operations Contract executed with the selected contractor(s).
- November 1, 2026Notice to Proceed (target)
Contingent on BLM lifting its seasonal fire restrictions; the actual date may be later.
- February 28, 2027Completion
Substantial completion per the Phase 1 grant schedule. A second season (October 2027 – February 2028) is possible with YWI approval.
Documents
Latest updates
Questions about this RFP are accepted by email through September 21, 2026. Answers of general applicability will be shared with all interested parties on the Addenda & Q&A page.