Specifications include, but are not limited to: a. Provide and utilize necessary personnel and equipment to remove water chestnut infestations from designated areas (approximately 300 acres) from the project area in Lake Champlain (north of Whitehall, N.Y.), utilizing standard mechanical harvesting equipment, high-speed transport vessels and an operations crew. b. Provide a signed copy of the mechanical harvesting contractor’s Certificate of Insurance (COI) in which the access road landowner is named as an additional insured party prior to the start of the management season. c. Supply the following equipment and personnel to meet the minimum specifications as stated below: i. Two (2) mechanical harvesters each with minimum 800 cubic foot capacity, designated operators for both machines capable of shallow and deep-water harvesting. ii. One (1) high speed transport vessel with a minimum load capacity of 800 cubic feet with a designated operator capable of attaining a speed of 8-10 mph when loaded and with good maneuverability under adverse weather conditions, when fully loaded and when empty. iii. One (1) shore conveyer unit to service 800 cubic foot mechanical harvesters and transporter. iv. Two (2) dump trucks with covers and operators for transporting water chestnut spoils with a minimum 12 to 14 cubic yards’ capacity or able to carry one 800 cubic foot harvester load. v. Appropriate watercraft and equipment for surveying the operations when necessary. d. Provide equipment and tools at project sites for the timely repair of equipment in the event of equipment breakdowns. e. Provide an operations manager who will be on site each work day for overall project supervision. The project operations manager will coordinate all control activities with DEC. f. Provide daily harvesting data, access information, and DEC designated site locations to DEC electronically via e-mail. Track geospatial information of harvesters on a daily basis. g. At the end of the season, provide the geospatial shapefile and the accumulated daily harvest data that includes DEC site number, dates/time at site, and harvest loads per site in an excel file.
