The Suwannee River Water Management District (District) is requesting bids to treat exotic invasive plant species on the Lake Rowell Tract which is near the City of Starke, Florida (Attachment A - Location Map). Portions of the property have been treated in the recent past; however, it has been discovered that other substantial portions of the property are also infested with exotic invasive plants (Attachment A - Infestation Map). The property is approximately 616 acres and the mapped infestation is approximately 516 acres. The contractor maybe required to treat outside the mapped infestation but within the Lake Rowell Tract for the same treatment rate. The vast majority of the treatment areas are considered a Basin Swamp or other wetlands. The only uplands associated with the treatment areas are fringe uplands. The wetlands are routinely inundated but they will completely dry up during extend periods of dry weather making access for treatments much better. For the most part, the treatment areas are under a closed canopy that restricts thick understory vegetation. However, there are pockets within the treatment areas where the canopy has opened (mainly due to extreme weather events such as hurricanes) and in those pockets the understory vegetation can be very thick. Access into the treatment areas will be best accomplished by foot, however if conditions allow, UTVs or single-sitting ATVs may be able to access some of the areas. The use of a boat will be required for the northern section of the Lake Rowell Tract but a boat can also be used to gain access to the treatment areas along the lake shore. A public boat ramp (Sampson and Rowell Lake Boat Ramp) is located on the west side of Lake Rowell.
