Addenda & Q&A

That is correct, and the requirement has been withdrawn. California issues no general statewide business license. Business licensing in California is administered locally, and a business license or business tax certificate is issued, if at all, by the city or county in which a business operates. Nevada County does not require or issue business licenses for businesses in its unincorporated areas, so a proposer based in unincorporated territory may have no such document available to it.

In place of that requirement, provide evidence that the proposer is a legally constituted business by any one of the following, at the proposer’s option: a current business license or business tax certificate from the city or county of the proposer’s principal place of business; a certificate of status or current Statement of Information showing good standing with the California Secretary of State; a filed Fictitious Business Name statement; or, if none of those is available, a signed statement to that effect identifying the proposer’s jurisdiction.

This documentation is no longer a pass or fail item. Where a proposal is otherwise responsive but the documentation is missing or incomplete, YWI will notify the proposer and allow three business days to provide it, on the same terms for every proposer. The LTO-A certification, attendance at the August 24 field meeting, and proof of insurance remain pass or fail conditions. A proposer that has already submitted a proposal need not resubmit and may provide this documentation as a supplement by the September 14 deadline. See Addendum No. 3.

No. None of those count against the ten pages. Section III.D of the RFP provides:

“Proposals shall be a single 8½″ × 11″ PDF of no more than ten (10) pages. The following do not count toward the page limit: a one-page cover letter, the Cost Proposal Form, insurance certificates, licensing documents, and addendum acknowledgments.”

The ten-page limit therefore applies only to the narrative portions of the proposal: approach, staffing, work plan and schedule (Section III.E.2); experience, qualifications and references (Section III.E.3); and local workforce (Section III.E.4).

The Cost Proposal Form at Exhibit F, insurance certificates, licensing documents, a one-page cover letter, and addendum acknowledgments are all submitted in addition to those ten pages.

Proposers shall provide proof of a California business license and of a current and valid Licensed Timber Operator Class A (LTO-A) certification in good standing with the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. For purposes of this solicitation, a Contractors State License Board classification is not separately required, and the LTO-A certification satisfies the licensing requirement for the timber operations described in Exhibit B.

Nothing in the foregoing relieves the Contractor of its obligation under Section 2.11(e) of the Contract to secure all licenses and permits, and to file all notices, required by law in connection with its performance. Section 2.10(b) of the Contract is also unchanged: the Operator must hold a current and active LTO-A license in good standing, all required licenses and permits for commercial vehicle operations, and a county or state highway encroachment permit if one is needed.

The successful proposer must also be amended onto MTHP #2-23-00126-NEV before operations begin, as provided in Exhibit B, Section 1. See Addendum No. 2.

No locations are pre-designated, and none are shown on the Project Map at Exhibit A. YWI's preference is to place piles at either of the two landings where capacity allows. The landings are not expected to hold all of the material, so some piles in the woods away from the landings will be necessary.

Pile siting is governed by the placement rules in Exhibit B, Section 2.3: at least 25 feet from the dripline of residual trees, at least 100 feet from property lines and from the edge of any adjacent untreated fuels, at least 200 feet from homes or structures, and at least 100 feet from retained brush patches. Piles must sit in open areas where burning under prescribed conditions would not be likely to scorch or kill residual trees. The RPF may approve a lesser distance from property lines and adjacent untreated fuels in writing.

In-woods piles are subject to the 60-foot maximum diameter in Exhibit B, Section 2.3; piles at a landing are not subject to that limit. Where no natural opening exists, additional trees may be cut to create one, but each such tree must be approved and marked by the RPF before cutting.

No. Mastication is not an approved treatment method under this contract. Sub-merchantable material designated for removal is handled one of two ways, by diameter: material over 1 inch DBH is cut and placed in burn piles, and material under 1 inch DBH is crushed by equipment and left in place, to be consumed in the later broadcast burn.

Crushing is not mastication. The material is crushed by equipment and left where it lies; it is not ground, chipped, or masticated. See Addendum No. 1, Item 3.

All designated sub-merchantable material must be treated, but not all of it is cut. There is a lower cut-off for cutting at 1 inch DBH. Material under 1 inch DBH is crushed by equipment and left in place rather than cut; material 1 inch DBH and over is cut and placed in burn piles.

Which trees are designated for removal is set by the prescription at Exhibit C, Section 3, which is a designation by prescription rather than a diameter rule: remove small-diameter trees (under 10 inches DBH) and brush from within the dripline of vigorous, healthy dominant, codominant and intermediate trees, and where no dominant or codominant overstory is present, thin the intermediate size class to an average of 15 feet stem to stem, non-uniformly, in clumps of two to four trees with interspersed gaps.

Retention requirements do apply. Within the sub-merchantable class, sugar pine, Douglas-fir, dogwood and any riparian hardwood species shall not be cut at any size. Oaks and sprouting hardwoods are thinned only where they act as a ladder fuel to overstory trees, and this includes maples. Untreated brush patches totaling roughly 1 acre must be retained — see the question below on what qualifies as brush. Dead trees under 10 inches DBH are removed, while snags 10 inches DBH and larger are retained under Exhibit B, Section 2.4. The retention priorities at Exhibit C, Section 4 are conservation easement compliance obligations, not preferences.

No fireline is required around individual piles. The separation distances in Exhibit B, Section 2.3 serve that purpose, together with the perimeter fireline along the southern and eastern boundaries required by Section 2.5.

Piles are not covered in full. Each pile requires an ignition area of not less than 5 feet by 5 feet covered with waxed paper laid over finer fuels such as small branches, so the pile lights readily. The Contractor furnishes the waxed paper. Nothing in this contract requires polyethylene sheeting or full pile covering.

Yes. All burning falls outside this scope and will be carried out under a separate contract that YWI procures. There are two burning operations, in sequence: the piles built under this contract are burned first, as their own operation, and the broadcast burn follows afterward. The Contractor's obligation is to build piles that meet the construction and placement standards in Exhibit B, Section 2.3 so the burn contractor can light them under prescription.

Yes. Sierra Pacific Industries Purchase Log Confirmation PO-18-2026006, Sale Name ROUND MTN '26, Sale No. 18-1657, is reproduced in full at Exhibit D. Yuba Watershed Institute is the Seller of record. The effective date is August 1, 2026 and the stated expiration is November 15, 2026. YWI expects SPI to extend it for the duration of operations, and the mill-interruption provisions at Exhibit B, Section 2.2 and Sections 2.08 and 2.19 of the Contract apply if it lapses.

YWI is the Timber Owner of record under Minor Deviation #2 to MTHP #2-23-00126-NEV, accepted by CAL FIRE on August 6, 2026. YWI pays the California timber yield tax and the forest excise tax. Title to timber and logs never passes to the Contractor. Proposed unit prices are therefore service rates and must include no offset or credit for timber value.

The work is mechanical. The only hand work this contract contemplates is fireline. Exhibit B, Section 2.5 provides that fireline is machine constructed except where the RPF directs hand construction because of site conditions. Hand-constructed fireline so directed is paid at the additive unit rate, Item 4 on the Cost Proposal Form at Exhibit F. That additive rate sits outside the scored total, so proposers should price it realistically.

No. The mandatory pre-proposal field meeting on August 24, 2026 was the site visit. The property is private and gated, and RFP Section I directs proposers not to contact the RPF or the landowner directly regarding this solicitation.

Material larger than 1 inch in diameter shall be removed to a burn pile. All other material — scraped duff, small sticks and similar fine material — shall be placed to the side of the fireline, preferably outside the timber unit, and in all cases on the same ownership.

Sequence matters: cut the trees and brush first, then construct the fireline. Some trees may need to be removed before the line can be put in. See Addendum No. 1, Item 4.

One blade width, constructed to bare mineral soil using the minimum disturbance necessary, not excavated deeper than required to expose mineral soil, and properly waterbarred per the MTHP, with bladed material pushed to the outside of the fire unit. Where the RPF directs hand line instead, it is 3 feet wide and likewise waterbarred.

Retained brush patches shall generally be comprised of broad-leaved brush species, and shall not be comprised primarily of conifer regeneration. The remaining requirements of the brush retention bullet at Exhibit C, Section 3 are unchanged: roughly 1 acre total, about 2 to 3 percent of the unit, in patches of one quarter to one half acre, favoring dense, tall shrub cover, located outside leave-tree driplines and at least 100 feet from planned pile locations, with patch locations chosen by the Contractor subject to RPF approval or flagged by the RPF beforehand. See Addendum No. 1, Item 2.

Yes, below 1 inch DBH. All sub-merchantable trees to be removed that are over 1 inch DBH shall be cut and piled. All sub-merchantable trees to be removed that are under 1 inch DBH shall be crushed by equipment and left in place. See Addendum No. 1, Item 3.

No. Neither the Scope of Work nor the DxP Guidelines requires pruning of residual trees, and proposers should not price it.