Common use of Forest Service Clause in Contracts

Forest Service. Land and Resource Management Plans (LRMP) have been developed and approved for the National Forests in Alabama and the National Forests in Florida, the two U.S. Forest Service administrative units covered by this Agreement. These LRMPs were developed and are being implemented using an ecosystem management approach and adaptive management. The LRMPs can be accessed at ▇▇▇▇://▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇▇▇.▇▇▇/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev3_002528.pdf and ▇▇▇▇://▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇▇▇.▇▇▇/detail/florida/landmanagement/?cid=STELPRDB5269793 . The following is a list of habitat management activities and objectives included within the LRMPs. While this list is not all-inclusive, it provides examples of actions that will conserve the gopher tortoise, associated species, and the ecosystems upon which they depend: • Protect from harm or move out of harm's way gopher tortoises encountered by personnel, cooperators, or contractors engaged in activities that may endanger individual specimens (note that the Forest Service or contractors are not going to search project areas for presence of gopher tortoises, but if, for example, a tortoise is encountered on a timber haul road, the logger will either move it out of harm’s way or wait for it to cross the road). • Protect known ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ and survey for new ones in areas of potential habitat if any significant ground disturbing activities are planned. Significant ground disturbing activities include road construction (temporary, permanent, haul roads, and skid trails), land clearing for rights-of-way, mining operations, oil and gas development, building construction, and intensive site preparation including sheering, root raking, drum chopping, and disking unless low PSI tracked equipment is used. • Maintain information on known ▇▇▇▇▇▇ locations in a database with GPS coordinates so these locations can be incorporated into habitat management plans and contracts. • Maintain a 15-foot radius buffer zone around all known ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, active or inactive, where heavy equipment use will be minimized (note that not all known ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ will be marked; GPS locations of known ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ will be provided to contractors and it will be their responsibility to maintain the buffer). • When developing maintenance management plans for new or renewed special-use permits involving rights-of-way, the permittee must conduct gopher tortoise ▇▇▇▇▇▇ surveys in suitable habitat of the right-of-way prior to performing vegetation maintenance with heavy equipment. Surveys shall be performed by personnel familiar with gopher tortoise ecology. • Restore and maintain between 27,000 acres and 32,000 acres of longleaf pine per decade of this Agreement until all offsite pine species have been restored to the appropriate native pine species. • Thin between 69,000 and 79,000 acres of overstocked pine stands per decade of this Agreement with a target basal area of between 30 and 60 square feet per acre. • Prescribe burn on average every 3 years with varied intervals on any given site to restore natural processes in all sites where the natural-fire-return interval was less than 10 years. Strive to burn 50 percent of those acres between March 15 and September 30 with 20 percent of the acreage between May 1 and July 31. • Maintain ground cover that generally consists of more than 40% herbaceous, pyrophytic plants, with no mid-story hardwoods over 7 feet tall. • Hardwood mid-story may be controlled with chemical or mechanical means or prescribed fire. • Invasive non-native species are controlled, with priority given to areas where they are causing adverse effects to federally listed species or Regional Forester’s sensitive species, such as the gopher tortoise. • Seek opportunities to use authority under the ▇▇▇▇▇ amendment to manage habitat on adjacent private lands where landowners are willing to enter into a conservation agreement. • The national forests involved in this Agreement will serve as recipient sites for gopher tortoises being displaced by development, contingent upon funds being provided by the developer to manage habitat for the tortoises being relocated and to monitor their recruitment into the population.