Proposals Due: November 5, 1999

The McKenzie Watershed Council is seeking proposals from qualified contractors to conduct an assessment and evaluation of fish and wildlife habitat and populations in the McKenzie River Watershed, a sub-basin of the Willamette River. The assessment will analyze the watershed’s aquatic and terrestrial habitats and watershed functions, including historical factors, current conditions, and projected future habitat trends. The goal of this project is to provide a watershed-scale scientific framework for fish and wildlife species recovery. The assessment will produce information and analysis that will be used by the Council to evaluate and prioritize the protection and restoration of habitats for anadromous and resident fish and migrant and resident wildlife in the McKenzie River Watershed. The assessment will primarily focus on the aquatic-riparian system. Because these are very broad goals, the scope of the contract and focus of the workplan will be refined by the contractor in consultation with the Council’s technical steering committee for the assessment. The steering committee will work with the contractor to develop a set of questions and key issues that will focus and guide the assessment and analysis process. It is anticipated that the project will identify important historical and current habitat for spring chinook salmon, bull trout, and several "at risk" wildlife species. The project will conclude with a comprehensive report that describes:

• The general historical and current characteristics of the watershed.
• The status of habitats and populations for key fish and wildlife species.
• Projected future conditions for key fish and wildlife populations and habitats.
• Opportunities to protect and restore key fish and wildlife populations and habitats.
• Recommendations for project areas and approaches.
• Important information gaps and general recommendations on indicators to be used to monitor and evaluate the status and trends for fish and wildlife populations and habitats.

This contract is funded through the Bonneville Power Administration’s Fish and Wildlife Program. This contract will be managed by the McKenzie Watershed Council’s assessment coordinator, with extensive coordination with the Council’s partner organizations.

The McKenzie River Watershed encompasses an area of approximately 1,300 square miles, occupying about 12 percent of Oregon's Willamette River Basin. Bounded on the east by the crest of the Cascade Mountains, the McKenzie River joins the Willamette River just north of the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area.

The McKenzie River Watershed supports anadromous and resident fish species, including spring chinook, bull trout, native "McKenzie redside" rainbow trout, and provides habitat for several hundred wildlife species. Historical data show that the McKenzie River produced an estimated 40% of the run of spring chinook above Willamette Falls, but these runs have dramatically declined (Howell et al. 1988). Earlier this year, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) listed the Upper Willamette River spring chinook ESU as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. In addition, bull trout were listed as "threatened" in the Lower Columbia River Distinct Population Segment by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The McKenzie River Watershed is the last major refuge of wild bull trout in the Oregon Cascades (Buchanan et al. 1997) and is now considered the most important remaining area for the production of native Upper Willamette spring chinook. The watershed provides habitat for several wildlife species of concern both statewide and federally. Species of concern that utilize the McKenzie River Watershed for habitat include the peregrine falcon, Northern spotted owl, Western pond turtle, northern goshawk, wolverine, Townsend’s big-eared bat, spotted frog, great gray owl, and red tree vole. The McKenzie River also produces the highest water quality of any river in the Willamette River Basin and is the sole source of drinking water to over 200,000 residents of Lane County (DEQ 1998).

The McKenzie River Watershed represents the best opportunity in the Willamette River Basin for the long-term persistence of native fish and wildlife assemblages. The watershed supports continuous blocks of high-quality fish and wildlife habitat. Nearly seventy-percent of the watershed is in federal ownership, primarily concentrated in the upper portions of the drainage. In a recent survey, the quantity and quality of existing spring chinook spawning habitat in the upper watershed was found to be good, with most habitat loss resulting from dams blocking upstream migration (Sedell et al. 1991). Maintaining and expanding the connectivity of high-quality habitat areas is important to protect habitats that are large and well dispersed enough to be resilient in the face of large-scale catastrophic disturbance.

Fish and wildlife habitat in the McKenzie River Watershed has been modified over time, with most habitat degradation concentrated in the lower watershed. The majority of the riparian area along the river’s main channel is privately owned and becoming increasingly fragmented through land management activities such as roads and residential development (Minear 1994). The McKenzie Watershed has followed the general trend for the Willamette River Basin where land use change has been greatest at the periphery of major metropolitian areas such as Eugene-Springfield (Hulse et al. 1997). The lower McKenzie River valley (beginning at approximately River Mile 40) is increasingly in urban, residential, and agricultural land uses. This portion of the watershed was characterized historically by an unconfined valley, dynamic channel shifts, and abundant side-channel areas (Ligon 1991). Dikes and riprapping have confined large portions of the lower river to a set channel, with dramatic decreases in hydraulic complexity, loss of large areas of side-channel habitat, and over a fifty-percent reduction in mid-channel islands (Benner and Sedell 1997, Ligon 1991). Juvenile salmon move downstream from upper McKenzie tributaries, through the river channel, and take refuge in calmer, side-channel areas (McKenzie Watershed Council 1996, J. Ziller, ODFW, personal communication). This loss of side-channels, wetlands, and island habitats has also greatly affected wildlife species by directly reducing available breeding habitat for species like the Western pond turtle, and by diminishing the quality of dispersal corridors between the Willamette Valley and the Cascade Mountains for species such as the spotted frog. Thus there is a need to protect existing areas of ecological function and re-establish such areas where they have been lost or degraded and increase connectivtiy with the main channel of the McKenzie River.

To address these challenges to watershed health, the McKenzie Watershed Council (Council) was convened and initiated by Lane County and the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) in 1993. The Council acts as an advisory body with the purpose of helping to address management issues in the watershed and to provide a framework for coordination and cooperation among key interests. The mission of the 20-member council is to foster stewardship of McKenzie River Watershed resources, deal with issues in advance of resource degradation, and ensure sustainable watershed health, function, and uses.

The Council has developed a watershed planning framework to guide its future activities. Watershed analyses and other studies have been completed in sub-watersheds covering over three-quarters of the watershed, including all federal lands (Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management), a large portion of the industrial forest land-base under Weyerhaeuser ownership, and private lands in the Mohawk River sub-watershed. Information from these assessments, and the scientific data and expertise gathered at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, provide a rich store of information and expertise for guiding management strategies in the McKenzie Watershed. The Council is now developing a coordinated strategy for re-establishing the historic mosaic of habitats in the watershed by protecting existing high quality habitats and restoring watershed structure and function in areas where it is degraded.

A comprehensive assessment of the entire McKenzie River Watershed is needed to guide project selection by the Council. While analyses have been completed for many sub-watersheds and portions of the river’s channel (see Figure 1), this information has not been synthesized into a comprehensive watershed context that can be used to prioritize site-specific restoration projects and land acquisitions. The completed studies and sub-watershed assessments provide a fragmented picture of the watershed. Many of the assessments concentrated on tributary streams and did not focus on habitat in the McKenzie River channel and associated floodplains. The studies completed on the McKenzie River’s geomorphology (i.e., Minear 1994 and Ligon 1991) did not use similar methodologies and do not provide site-specific information on fish habitat attributes. In addition, the assessments completed on Weyerhaeuser lands do not provide information on wildlife habitat. A recent U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) study acknowledged the need for a watershed-wide analysis of conditions to guide planning, decision-making and implementation for projects related not only to biological resources, but also water quality in municipal watersheds (U.S. GAO 1998). The Aquatic Habitat Task Group of the McKenzie Watershed Council, based on completed studies and professional judgement, has targeted habitat protection and restoration in the general area of the lower river valley where there has been the greatest loss of side-channel habitat and riparian function (McKenzie Watershed Council 1996). This prioritization, however, is not site-specific, does not take into account projected growth and development pressures, and does not provide a comprehensive context for fish and wildlife habitat protection and restoration for the entire McKenzie River watershed.

2. PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

The contractor, in close coordination with the project steering committee, will develop a set of critical questions and issues regarding fish and wildlife populations and habitat to focus data collection, synthesis, and analysis. While the assessment will consider key wildlife species, the primary emphasis of the watershed characterization and analysis will be on the aquatic-riparian system and associated aquatic species. The assessment process will incorporate currently accepted aquatic-riparian system assessment methods, such as the Oregon Watershed Assessment Manual (OWEB 1999) and the Washington watershed analysis standard methodology (WFPB 1997), to maintain compatibility with other assessment products. The assessment will divide the watershed into environmentally distinct habitat types based on terrestrial habitat attributes (e.g., vegetation type, age, and connectivity) and aquatic-riparian system characteristics (e.g., reaches based upon channel geomorphology, flow patterns, thermal cycles, connectivity of habitats, and other factors). The watershed assessment will:

1. Synthesize and bring together in a similar format (i.e., GIS, stand structure, and species) the current knowledge of historic and present key fish and wildlife populations and habitat conditions throughout the watershed and identify information gaps.
2. Where information gaps exist, assess types, extent and locations of habitat modifications and existing high-quality habitat.
3. Develop a GIS database for key fish and wildlife habitat in the McKenzie Watershed.
4. Use existing information provided by Lane County Land Management Division, to project the impact of current urban and rural residential growth and development trajectories on key fish and wildlife habitat/populations throughout the watershed.
5. In collaboration with the steering committee, develop criteria for identifying important habitats, delineating locations for potential habitat protection and restoration, and describe benefits to fish and wildlife populations.
6. In collaboration with the steering committee, prioritize habitat types and general areas for protection and restoration that target identified key species.
7. Identify important information gaps and develop general guidance on key indicators for tracking the status and trends in fish and wildlife populations and habitat. This information will be used by the Council to develop a detailed biological monitoring and evaluation plan for habitat conditions in the watershed.
8. Develop final report that incorporates findings and recommendations.

The contractor will provide a summary of the firm's experience and qualifications in watershed assessment and managing large multidisciplinary projects. In no more than eight (8) pages describe:

• Experience collecting, synthesizing, analyzing and reporting on aquatic / terrestrial habitat and fish / wildlife population status and trends in large river basins similar to the McKenzie River watershed.
• Experience evaluating, prioritizing, and reporting on opportunities for fish and wildlife habitat protection and restoration projects.
• Experience working on fish / wildlife population and habitat assessments, and project planning in the Willamette and McKenzie River Basins.
• Experience coordinating acquisition of data from multiple government agencies and organizations.
• Experience working with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze and display information on fish and wildlife habitat / population status and trends.

The contractor will describe the general approach to assess and analyze the watershed’s terrestrial and aquatic habitats and watershed functions, including historic conditions, the current status, and potential future trends. The goal of this project is to provide a watershed-scale scientific framework for habitat protection and restoration and fish and wildlife population recovery. The submittal shall be no more than twelve (12) pages long and will address the proposed approach for:

• Assessing changes in aquatic / terrestrial habitat through time using historical information, current habitat conditions, and factors limiting habitat quality and populations for key fish and wildlife species.
• Synthesizing existing information and, when necessary, collecting new data or information. (Proposals for collecting new data will be reviewed by the steering committee.)
• Analyzing and evaluating aquatic / terrestrial habitat changes, current conditions and quality relative to the needs of key species, and associated fish and wildlife population impacts under future population growth.
• Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze and display information on fish and wildlife habitat / population status and trends, and potential areas for habitat restoration and protection.
• Coordinating activities with the project steering committee, and various public and private organizations. Coordination activities include acquiring existing GIS data layers, accessing existing information, and summarize in a consistent format.
• The proposed schedule and deliverables, including reports, graphics, maps, and other supporting information.

The selected contractor must have demonstrated expertise and available staff assigned to the project. The contractor will identify:

• The project manager and project team to be assigned, with specific information on individuals’ roles in the assessment.
• Technical skills available to address issues of fluvial geomorphology, aquatic, riparian and terrestrial habitat assessment, fish and wildlife population assessment and evaluation, environmental impact assessment and evaluation, and GIS analysis and reporting.
• Subcontractors (if any) and identify their role in the project and their qualifications.

The submittal will attach resumes for all individuals who will be involved with the proposed project.

The contractor will provide a list of no more than four references who can speak knowledgeably about the contractor’s abilities, experience, and skills.

The contractor will provide a cost estimate of the work and a detailed budget illustrating expenditures by category. The contractor shall submit a firm offer of cost to complete the project.

1. SUBMITTALS MUST BE RECEIVED BY THE McKENZIE WATERSHED COUNCIL, P.O. Box 1025, Corvallis, Oregon, 97339, no later than 5 p.m. on November 5, 1999. Any submittal received after that time will be considered late, and will not be given further consideration.
2. No facsimile (FAX) transmitted submittals will be accepted.
3. Eight (8) paper copies and one computer file of the submittal must be included. All paper copies shall be 8.5" by 11" format. The electronic file shall be in Microsoft Word 97 or newer versions and contained on a standard floppy disk.
4. The submittal must be signed by an individual who is an officer or partner and who is authorized to execute agreements on behalf of the contractor.
5. Questions regarding this RFP should be directed to John Runyon, McKenzie Watershed Council assessment coordinator, at 541/758-0947.

5. EVALUATION AND SELECTION

The steering committee will decide on the successful contractor and award the contract. Consultants will be evaluated on the submittals described and items outlined in Section III, Contract Service Qualifications. Proposals will be evaluated in four categories:

1. Experience in Watershed Assessment and Project Management
2. Proposed Approach
3. Staffing, Organization and Expertise
4. Budget Details

The steering committee may request interviews with the project leader identified by the contractor as part of the evaluation process or prior to awarding the contract. The steering committee will review and rank the proposals and, following interviews, develop recommendations for contracting with the council. The Council reserves the right to require clarifications of any proposals.