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FOREST SERVICE HANDBOOK
Portland, Oregon
TITLE 5409.17 - RIGHTS-OF-WAY ACQUISITION HANDBOOK
R6 Supplement No. 5409.17-91-6
Effective October 15, 1991
POSTING NOTICE. Supplements to this handbook are numbered consecutively.
Check the last transmittal sheet received for this handbook to see that the above
supplement number is in sequence. If not, obtain intervening supplement(s) at once
from the Information Center. Do not post this supplement until the missing one(s)
is received and posted. After posting, place the transmittal at the front of the title
and retain until the first transmittal of the next calendar year is received.
The last R6 Supplement to this handbook was 5409.17-91-5 (5409.17,50).
Document Name
Sheets)
Superseded New
(Number of
5409.17,61
8
Page Code
61 thru 61.2--7
5
Digest:
This supplement reissues Section 61 to conform the format and structure of the
Handbook to the requirements of electronic directive issuance.
Only minor changes to correct spelling, punctuation, and so forth have been made.
This supplement is available in the R6FSH Information Center Service in the same
format as the paper copy.
/s/ John F. Butruille
JOHN F. BUTRUILLE
Regional Forester
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FSH 5409.17 - RIGHTS-OF-WAY ACQUISITION HANDBOOK
R6 SUPPLEMENT 5409.17-91-6
EFFECTIVE 10/15/91
CHAPTER 60 - ROAD RIGHT-OF-WAY CONSTRUCTION AND
USE AGREEMENTS
61 - STANDARD FORM AGREEMENT. Off Highway Haul (OHH) is defined as
heavy hauling which entails wider loads or heavier loads than normally permitted
on State highways. The National Forest Products Association generally accepts in
principle that it is equitable that any additional costs for OHH roads be borne by
the party who will do such hauling.
61.2 - Body.
3. Section 3 - Road Construction Plans. These guidelines should expedite
negotiation of supplements at the field level by clarifying the items to be resolved
and establishing sideboards. The text provides for flexibility where conditions
warrant. This supplement has been reviewed by the Regional Forest ServiceNational Forest Products Association (FS-NFPA) coordinating committee and is
available for use by cost-share cooperators in guiding acceptable road construction
practices.
Long-range transportation plans, agreed to by the parties, should establish resource
objectives, traffic service levels, and other criteria, including operation and
maintenance for the roads. FSM 7720 establishes responsibilities and authorities
for Forest Supervisors and the Forest Engineer to establish engineering standards
and to approve plans. Follow these guidelines for the cost-share program.
Prior to time of tagline, the parties should document, in writing, the levels of
engineering services for the road. (Refer to section 3 Parent Agreement.) There
must be sufficient engineering work performed so either party can independently
review, validate, and be assured that plans, specifications, and cost estimates meet
the objectives established by the parties. The nonconstructing party should not
insist on engineering in excess of this principle.
b. Plans and Specifications
(1) Design. Prior to any location, survey, or design, design elements and
standards will be determined for the road construction based on resource
objective, constraints, tolerances, and Traffic Service Levels. FSH 7709.56
should ordinarily be the basis for establishing design elements and
standards, but is subject to adjustment, as needed, to meet local situations.
(2) Location. The necessary skill and knowledge to establish on the ground
the location which will meet the design requirements established above.
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(3) Survey. That necessary (varying precision) to gather sufficient
information to meet the design requirements above.
(4) Construction Engineering. Provide proper and sufficient skills and
knowledge of construction as required by construction specifications.
(5) Plans. Final design plans will display that which is necessary to control
construction on the ground and sufficient for cost estimating and
establishment for specification. This can vary from straight-line diagrams to
a plan and profile depending on, and compatible with, that determined for
design and survey requirements.
(6) Specifications. Specifications must include the construction requirements
agreed to (compaction, clearing, and so forth). Forest Service standard
specifications will be used when Forest Service is the constructing party.
They provide a range of construction requirements that will meet the varying
types of roads to be constructed as agreed to by the parties. The Forest
Service encourages use of these specifications by both parties. In any event,
all specifications must be documented, dated, and referenced in the plans.
(7) Cost Estimates. Include as costs to be shared in each cost-share project
the cost of specialists whose expertise is mutually agreed to be necessary to
meet the requirements set forth by laws, Regulations, and Executive Orders.
Examples are:
(a) Kind of Federal Laws or Executive Orders
- National Historic Preservation Act, E.O. 11593
- Flood Plains Management, E.O. 11988
- Protection of Wetlands, E.O. 11990
- Endangered Species Act
- National Environmental Policy Act
- Federal Land Policy and Management Act
- National Forest Management Act
- Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 1972
(b) Kind of Situations
- Flood Plain
- Wetland
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- Threatened or Endangered Species
- Unstable Soil(s)
- Archeological Site
- Potential Visual Resource Problem
- Potential Wildlife Habitat Problem
- Potential Water Quality Problem
- Potential Fisheries Habitat Problem
(c) Kind of Specialists
- Archaeologist
- Landscape Architect
- Hydrologist
- Fisheries Biologist
- Wildlife Biologist
- Botanist
- Geologist
- Soil Scientist
The required specialists need to be mutually identified at the beginning of the costshare project. The cost of each should be determined on an actual cost or average
unit cost basis for a particular area. The preferred method is to develop average
unit costs, based on contract rates, which are applicable to the Forest Service and
all cooperators within an administrative unit. Once established, there should be no
vacillation between the method selected, use of actual cost or average unit costs,
within a Road Right-of-Way Construction and Use Agreement. The established
method will be used to document the value of work performed by either party.
These costs will be identified at the bottom of form 7700-18 (Engineering Cost
Estimate).
Forest Service unit costs have been derived from use of Forest Service
specifications. If Forest Service specifications are used, the material and
construction requirements, identified as needed in the specifications, in conjunction
with the Forest Service cost guide, will be the basis for determining construction
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costs. The primary principle is that cost must be compatible with construction
requirements.
All unit costs shall be developed on the same basis as that established for purchaser
credit limits for timber sale projects including profit and risk. Purchaser credit is
the road cost estimate for public works contract adjusted to reflect the difference
between public works wage rates (Davis Bacon) and local logging industry wage
rates.
Cost projections shall be based on the time the initiating party states it plans to
complete the phases of construction for the road identified in the supplement to the
agreement.
The Fact Sheet will be signed within 90 days of execution of the 7700-18(s) shall be
reviewed and/or revised to current contract prices projected to agreed dates of
construction. The construction date agreed to by the parties will be documented on
the 7700-18(s). The supplement will be signed within 6 months of the Fact Sheet; if
not, the 7700-18(s) will be reviewed and revised to current contract prices.
However, no 7700-18(s) will be permitted to go through more than one cost guide
change without being revised to current contract prices.
A change of the agreed construction date by more than 3 months prior to execution
of the supplement will require reviewing and/or revising the 7700-18(s) to current
contract prices to reflect the new agreed date of construction.
4. Section 4 - Limitation on Cost-Sharing for Roads. The majority of costshare road mileage is one lane; that is, the parties agree that the one-lane standard
is adequate to serve anticipated uses. In some cases recreation traffic estimates
derived from current and projected use on a comparable road lead to a total traffic
projection for the 20-year period on the subject road which exceeds the capacity of a
one-lane road.
Three alternatives are available:
a. Control of conflicting uses, as it becomes necessary. This will involve in
many cases controlling timber use, especially when recreation has borne a
share of the construction costs greater than its share of the traffic presently
using the road.
b. The Region 6 road closure policy will, in due course, lead to closures to
recreation access for extended periods, when necessary to meet specific
multiple-use management objectives. The miles of road needed to manage
and harvest the timber resource is more than needed or desirable for
recreational use. Keeping all roads open detracts from the quality of
recreation and wildlife habitat, and adds unnecessarily to road maintenance
costs. Once a Forest has demonstrated that it can and will institute such a
policy of closure of certain roads, it can then negotiate future cost-share
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supplements on similar roads on the basis of timber only (or of the indicated
reduction in projected recreation traffic).
c. In the absence of either control of conflicting uses or of road closure, the
road should be reconstructed when it is no longer possible to use it safely and
economically. The estimated use that each of the parties would make of the
reconstructed facility would determine the shares to be employed in the
supplement.
9.
Section 9 - Maintenance. Section 12 of the Cost-Share Agreement (as
amended in 1983) provides for written "Maintenance arrangements for the coming
season." Section 9 provides for two common methods which could be used in
documenting these annual arrangements. One method is to agree to writing each
year on each of the items in paragraphs a-d of Section 12 of the Agreement. The
other method is for the parties to enter into a long-term maintenance agreement
(see item b following), and then follow the procedures in it when making the annual
maintenance plan.
a. Annual Maintenance Agreement. When this method is selected, annual
arrangements should be documented for each separate agreement area on the
Forest. Using this method, the parties will need to reach agreement on a
number of principles and definitions that they may not have agreed to
previously. It is recommended that the principles in the sample Region 6
Road Maintenance Agreement, shown in Chapter 14 of FSH 7709.15, be used
when applicable to reach decisions needed in the annual plan. The parties
may choose to use the sample maintenance agreement as a reference in this
annual plan. For example, an annual maintenance arrangement might
contain the following statement: "Major damage--the parties agree to use the
definitions and procedures for resolving user-caused major damage as set
forth in Exhibit 1 of Region 6, FSH 7709.15, Chapter 14.34."
Additional references might be similarly made to other exhibits such as using
Exhibit 3 when documenting "the work to be performed" in the annual
maintenance arrangement.
The options of paying for maintenance work, as outlined in Section IV of
Exhibit 1, have been approved by Fiscal Management. The Forest Service
should not agree to other options when making annual maintenance
arrangements, unless previously reviewed with Fiscal.
Each annual arrangement should make provision to change the maintenance
plan, as necessary, to account for changes in haul or reassignment of prime
maintainer.
b. Long-term Maintenance Agreement. A maintenance agreement may be
entered into that is applicable to all the cost-share agreements that the
Forest Service has with that cooperator. This may be particularly
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advantageous where maintenance work performed in one area by one party is
planned to be offset for maintenance work performed by the other in a
different agreement area of that National Forest. An additional advantage of
a long-term maintenance agreement is that principles, procedures, and
definitions that will be used consistently need not be repeated each year
when documenting maintenance arrangements. The Transportation System
Maintenance Handbook, FSH 7709.15, Chapter 14, contains a Region 6
sample maintenance agreement. This is the agreement that is authorized to
be entered into between the Forest Supervisor and the cooperator. If other
formats or modifications to this agreement are proposed, these should be sent
to the Regional Office for prior review.
11.
Section 11 - Annual Accounting. FSH 6509.11k provides direction on the
proper method of accounting for the cost-share road program.
12.
Section 12 - Annual Meeting. The District Ranger and staff will normally
take the lead in scheduling and preparing for the meeting. The Forest Supervisor
shall assign representatives in both the Lands and Engineering functions to
participate, or order to ensure that cost-share policy is properly maintained. If
appropriate, Regional Office representation will be requested (FSM 5467.04).
A copy of the minutes of each such meeting shall be forwarded to the Regional
Forester. This will expedite processing of cost-share supplements.
a. Share Long-term Plans. It is important to the agreement parties that
decisions pertaining to their land management and access objectives are
identified on a longer term than is needed for the coming year.
This section is expanded to provide that each party shall make available for
examination or provide long-term plans, covering the next 4 or more years, to
the other party or parties to the agreement.
Sharing long-term plans may require review and examination of several
different plans prepared by either party affecting lands within the agreement
area to facilitate their own land and resource management objectives.
Coordination and open discussion of these plans will often result in greater
efficiency in developing the agreement area. The following are some of the
more important long-term plans to be shared by the parties affecting
development, management, and maintenance of the joint road system:
(1) Five-Year Timber Action Plans. The plans should include anticipated
sale areas, planned sale volumes, sell dates, appraised haul routes, planned
road construction or reconstruction, and so forth. Verbal plans are acceptable
if the cooperator elects to communicate action plans in this manner in lieu of
a written plan. Sufficient information covering the items listed above is
needed to assure coordination and development of projects of mutual benefit
and interest.
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(2) Long-Range Transportation System Plans. It is hightly desirable that
the parties have agreement on the long-range transportation plan for joint
development of the agreement area. The parties need to keep each other
advised as to road construction proposals which will significantly alter the
planned transportation system for the agreement area.
Some fundamentals that need to be included in the long-range transportation
plan are:
(a) Resource management objectives for timber, recreation, and
administrative use, by time periods such as during and after commercial use.
(b) Environmental concerns or issues for soils/water/wildlife visual resources.
(c) Establishment of traffic service levels, including operation and
maintenance levels for use periods identified in the resource management
objectives.
See Forest Service Handbook 7709.56, Chapter 4, for detailed discussion of
design criteria.
(3) Land Adjustment Plans. The parties need to share plans concerning land
adjustment proposals, land transfers, or sales within or adjacent to the
agreement area which will significantly affect the landownership pattern and
access needs.