Specifications include, but are not limited to: The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) is seeking qualification statements and proposals from environmental consulting firms for conducting a Protected Instream Flow Study to develop protected instream flow criteria for three segments of the designated Pemigewasset River. NHDES expects that a protected instream flow study and report should take a year to 18 months, but recognizes that the occurrence of appropriate flow conditions will also play a role in the timing and duration of the project. The project requires a consultant to determine protected instream flow criteria for three segments of the designated Pemigewasset River. The key elements of instream flow protection are a combination of statistics, fisheries biology, riparian ecosystems, recreation, river hydrology and hydraulic‐habitat modeling methods. The consultant will develop protected instream flow criteria using, at a minimum, assessment methods similar to those used during previous protected instream flow studies. The consultant will describe the results in a Proposed Protected Instream Flow Report. The consultant will present the report at a public information meeting and then at a public hearing. NHDES will receive comments. The consultant, in consultation with NHDES, will address the comments and incorporate any changes into a final Protected Instream Flow Report. Before completion of the project, the consultant will provide NHDES with electronic copies of all data used to determine the protected instream flows. NHDES expects periodic update meetings at appropriate times, roughly on a quarterly basis
