South Yuba Rim Hazardous Fuels Reduction — Phase 2: Fuels Reduction Contractor Services
YWI is seeking fuels reduction contractors to treat about 232 acres of private land across 31 parcels on San Juan Ridge — hand thinning with pile burning, mastication, lop and scatter, broadcast burning, cut-and-drag of blackberry, and burning of existing piles. Seven separately awardable Bid Items; a non-mandatory pre-proposal field meeting is September 18.
This work has been awarded by Bid Item to First Rain Land Stewardship Services LLC (Bid Items 1A, 4, 5, and 7), Wildland Corporation (Bid Items 1B, 3, and 6), and GP Development & Land Clearing LLC (Bid Item 2). Read the Notice of Intent to Award →
Project overview
The South Yuba Rim Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project is a landscape-scale effort along the San Juan Ridge in western Nevada County, spanning the north rim of the South Yuba River canyon from Bridgeport State Park to Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park. Its design was guided by a steering committee of the North San Juan Fire Protection District, CAL FIRE, the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services, four local Firewise Communities (French Corral, Montezuma Ridge West, Outer Jackass Flats, and Lake City/Grizzly), YWI, and fire behavior experts. The project is identified as a priority fuels project in the 2024 CAL FIRE Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit Strategic Fire Plan.
This solicitation covers the CAL FIRE-funded portion of Phase 2: approximately 232 acres of shaded and unshaded fuel break, roughly 440 feet wide, along neighborhood evacuation routes and secondary north–south ridgelines, spanning 27 landowners and 31 parcels, under CAL FIRE Grant Agreement 5GG25128 (California Climate Investments / Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund). It complements roughly 800 acres of primary fuel break along the canyon rim funded by a $3.77 million FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant. The work is organized into seven separately priced and separately awardable Bid Items; proposers may bid on any one or more, and YWI may award any combination to one or more contractors.
CEQA compliance is provided through a Project-Specific Analysis and Addendum to the CalVTP Program EIR (May 2025; Nevada County lead), which classifies the prescriptions under three CalVTP treatment types — Fuel Break, Wildland-Urban Interface, and Ecological Restoration — each with its own prescription in Exhibit C. Trees up to 18 inches DBH may be cut in Fuel Break and WUI units, though most cut trees will be under 10 to 14 inches; the Ecological Restoration prescription is limited to trees and brush under 12 inches. A no-cut species list and species retention preferences apply across all units, and all crews must complete YWI's project training and the seasonal biological-resource training given by the project biologist.
Payment is by monthly invoice at the per-acre price for acres completed, inspected, and approved, with no retention. Bid Items 1, 4, and 5, which include burning, are paid 50 percent on approved cutting, piling, and preparation and 50 percent on approved burning (Bid Item 4 added by Addendum No. 1). Work is confined to parcels with an executed right-of-entry agreement, Notice to Proceed is targeted for on or about November 1, 2026, and piles built are burned before operations close on February 28, 2027 unless the Project Manager approves carryover in writing; broadcast burning is expected in fall 2027. Personnel conducting burns must hold OSFM Certified Prescribed-Fire Burn Boss certification, and every burn must be enrolled in the California Prescribed Fire Claims Fund. The project is not subject to California prevailing wage requirements. This RFP will be evaluated as a best-value process, not a low-bid competition.
Scope of work
- Bid Item 1 — Hand Thin, Pile, Burn (~117 acres, 13 units): hand cut trees under 10″ DBH (up to 18″ where marked by the PM), build compact, covered hand piles to a 90 percent consumption standard, and burn them under an approved burn plan
- Bid Item 2 — Mastication (~92 acres, 3 units): masticate trees under 10″ DBH and brush, low-ground-pressure tracked equipment preferred, leaving material no deeper than 6 inches on average and following the specified work direction in two units to limit the spread of Scotch broom; in the westernmost unit, also re-size, clean, cover, and move the existing piles clear of residual trees for burning under Bid Item 7, within the per-acre price (Addendum No. 1)
- Bid Item 3 — Lop and Scatter (~4.5 acres): hand cut brush and material up to 8″ DBH, lop it to pieces under 24 inches, and scatter it to no more than 6 inches average depth
- Bid Item 4 — Broadcast Burn, Simple (~8 acres): install control line around the unit perimeter and apply low-intensity fire across the surface to consume remaining slash and light fuels without damaging residual trees
- Bid Item 5 — Hand Thin, Prep, Crush, and Broadcast Burn, Complex (~6.8 acres, 2 units): cut ladder fuels, crush Scotch broom and other resprouting shrubs, prep leave trees, install control line, and broadcast burn
- Bid Item 6 — Cut and Drag (~3.5 acres, 2 units): hand cut Himalayan blackberry and other bramble fuels at ground level, then crush in place or drag outside the watercourse buffer to a staging area and hand-pile for burning
- Bid Item 7 — Pile Burn of Existing Piles (~63.7 acres): burn piles left from a previous treatment, at roughly 100-foot intervals along about 6,000 feet of treated corridor, after the Bid Item 2 contractor has re-sized, cleaned, covered, and moved them clear of residual trees (Addendum No. 1)
- All Bid Items — comply with the Exhibit D environmental compliance measures: watercourse and lake protection zones and equipment limitation zones by watercourse class, erosion control per the Forest Practice Rules, no mechanical operations on saturated soils, CAL FIRE burn plans with fire-behavior modeling and an Incident Action Plan, air-district smoke management and burn authorizations, three-day public burn notifications, and operating hours of 7 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday–Saturday and 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Sundays and holidays
Process & timeline
- September 3, 2026RFP posted
Request for Proposals and Exhibits A–F published as a single PDF.
- September 18, 2026Pre-proposal field meeting (non-mandatory)
Held 10:00 a.m., commencing at the Historic Wells Fargo Bank Building in French Corral.
- September 21, 2026Questions deadline
Written questions were due by email to the Project Manager.
- September 25, 2026Responses and Addendum No. 1 posted
Answers to all field-meeting and written questions, and Addendum No. 1 with a redlined RFP and revised maps, are posted. Proposals must acknowledge receipt of both on the Cost Proposal Form.
View Q&A and Addendum → - October 1, 2026Addendum No. 2 posted
Bid Item 1 is now priced separately by geographic group. Proposers who already submitted may send a revised Cost Proposal Form by the deadline. Proposals must acknowledge Addenda No. 1 and No. 2.
View Addendum No. 2 → - October 2, 2026Proposals due
Single PDF, 10 pages max, by 5:00 PM PT with the subject line “RFP Response – South Yuba Rim”.
- October 16, 2026Notice of Intent to AwardCurrent
Fifteen proposals were received. YWI announced its intent to award Bid Items 1A, 4, 5, and 7 to First Rain Land Stewardship Services LLC; Bid Items 1B, 3, and 6 to Wildland Corporation; and Bid Item 2 to GP Development & Land Clearing LLC.
View notice → - October 21, 2026Contract award (estimated)
Fuels Reduction Operations Contract executed with the selected contractor(s).
- November 1, 2026Notice to Proceed (target)
Issued per Bid Item once landowner right-of-entry agreements for the applicable parcels are confirmed.
- February 28, 2027Completion
Piles built are burned before operations close unless the Project Manager approves carryover in writing. Unfinished work, including broadcast burning, pauses and resumes in fall 2027 by written agreement.
Documents
- Full RFP + Exhibits A–F — South Yuba Rim Phase 2 Fuels ReductionPDF · 2.2 MB · posted September 3, 2026 · amended by Addenda No. 1 and No. 2Download
- Addendum No. 2 with redlined RFP, Exhibit B, and Exhibit E (Bid Item 1 priced by group)PDF · 0.3 MB · posted October 1, 2026Download
- Addendum No. 1 with redlined RFP and Exhibits B, E, and FPDF · 0.4 MB · posted September 25, 2026Download
- Responses to Pre-Proposal Field Meeting and Written QuestionsPDF · 0.1 MB · posted September 25, 2026Download
- Revised georeferenced map — Birchville area (watercourse classes added)PDF · 1.3 MB · posted September 25, 2026 · supplements Exhibit ADownload
- Revised georeferenced map — China Flat and Jackass Flats area (watercourse classes added)PDF · 1.2 MB · posted September 25, 2026 · supplements Exhibit ADownload
- Revised georeferenced map — Noodle area (watercourse classes added)PDF · 1.2 MB · posted September 25, 2026 · supplements Exhibit ADownload
Latest updates
Addendum 02 — Bid Item 1 priced separately by geographic group
Replaces the single per-acre price for Bid Item 1 with a separate per-acre price for each geographic group: Group A (China Flat and Jackass Flats, about 59.5 acres) and Group B (Birchville and Noodle, about 57.5 acres); and more. See all changes →
Addendum No. 1, Item 9 requires a single per-acre price across both Bid Item 1 groups even though the groups have very different fuels. If YWI awards only one group, that single price is too high for one and too low for the other. Can a proposer give a separate per-acre price for each group?
Yes. YWI agrees that, under Addendum No. 1 as written, a single price across both groups combined with award by group would have put a whole-Bid-Item proposer at a disadvantage, an… Read full answer →