Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation (MSRF) and its partners, including BPA, Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), and UCSRB plan to implement a reach-scale salmon habitat enhancement project in the Middle Methow (M2) River in FY 2020.  The Barkley Bear Implementation Project will complete any remaining environmental compliance activities and (assuming the Barkley Irrigation Project remains on schedule) complete project implementation for the M2 Barkley Bear Habitat Project funded through the BPA targeted solicitation process.

The project was scheduled for construction in 2019, but was contingent on timely implementation of the complementary Barkley Irrigation project in 2018 by another project sponsor.  The Barkley Irrigation project has been delayed pending acquisition of easements through and adjacent to the Methow State Airport that are required for the selected locations of a pump station, a pressurized service line, and associated utilities.  The delay in the Barkley Irrigation project implementation required MSRF to postpone and reschedule implementation of the Barkley Bear habitat project.  As a result, MSRF will expend approximately $210-220K of the 2018-2019 awarded funds for project coordination, materials acquisition, vegetation maintenance, the Whitefish Island work, and ongoing coordination with the ditch company and their project sponsor.  The remainder of the initial award ($520K +/-) allocated for construction will be de-obligated as a result of the delay, requiring obligation of future funding to implement the project at a later time.

The goal of this Barkley Bear contract is to complete material acquisition, federal/state/local environmental permitting, Section 106 cultural consultation, construction and site restoration finishing in summer 2020.

Ongoing activities for this project include topographic surveys, photo points, landowner/stakeholder outreach and coordination, and related project coordination activities.

The majority of environmental compliance for project activities including federal Section 7 ESA consultation with BPA via the HIP3 process & other pertinent regulatory agencies (USFWS and NOAA) have been completed under previous contracts; however, the HIP process will have to be renewed in 2020.  The state-required SEPA process was completed previously for the reach-based M2 project prior to work at Whitefish Island (2012) and WDFW Floodplain (2013), but will need to be updated to include project activities.  Other permitting processes completed through APPS for  the WDFW Hydraulic Project Authorization and the JARPA process for Corps of Engineers Nationwide permits, county shorelines and floodplain development, and water quality permits will also be completed in this contract prior to construction.  

Lastly, under this contracting action, MSRF will establish contracts for project construction and revegetation/site restoration to be completed under this contract. MSRF will contract for purchase and delivery of wood pilings for use instream in the Middle Methow River (M2) for habitat enhancement actions.

In the unfortunate event that the project is to be delayed due to a sequential component of the project not being completed by an entity not related to MSRF, BPA will cancel specific work elements and de-obligate the funding.  BPA will exercise this authority in order to not strand funding so it can be used elsewhere in the Upper Columbia or within the Habitat Program.

Work elements for coordination and subsequent contract development would remain.

The contractor (MSRF), its designated agents, sub-consultants and project stakeholders will be available, responsive and will collaboratively address contract related issues during the term of the contract.  Contract issues include but are not limited to technical, policy, regulatory, project management and associated elements related to the project.  Successful execution of this contract is contingent on alignment of the preceding contract issues with the BPI and BPA contracting processes, project management plans, design review protocols (including but not limited to BPA RRT design review, and integration of input and comments from BPA).

MSRF Contract Manager and their design consultant will all cooperate, coordinate, collaborate, and maintain effective communication with BPA PM/COR, EC Lead, HIP Review Lead, and Hydraulic Engineer during the entire length of this contract.  MSRF and its subcontractors will address BPA comments and concerns, and the two entities will arrive at a mutual beneficial consensus.  MSRF contract manager will upload all the subcontracts executed under this contract in cbfish.org.

MSRF will not submit an annual report under this contract.  MSRF will provide the Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board (UCSRB) sufficient information so they, UCSRB, can assemble a comprehensive annual report for all contracts under project #2010-001-00 including this contract.  Report will then be submitted by the Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board (UCSRB) to BPA to fulfill deliverable.  UCSRB will submit and upload report under project 2010-001-00, Upper Columbia Programmatic Habitat.