What are the current parameters of restoration contracts?

Department of Fish and Game contracts are currently two-year contracts, with the ability to acquire a one-year extension. The first year of the contract is often absorbed with securing approval for the proposal and permitting. The second year is narrowed to a work season of several months to actually implement the ground-level work. This is commonly recognized to be inadequate. Work windows are also highly variable due to three specific parameters: unforeseen weather events, endangered species protections, and uncertainties in the permitting process.

Will less work be completed with five-year contracts?

No. Extending the contract period can actually increase the amount of high-quality work accomplished with limited dollars. Longer periods will also allow for perceived problems to be corrected within the term of the contract, rather than requiring an additional costly proposal and contracting process. Both contractors and community-based restoration groups will be able to partner with state agencies to develop longer-term, programmatic restoration plans with clear priorities and parameters of work for larger, more complex projects.

Will every contract be a five-year contract?

No. Some restoration projects are best suited for a single restoration field season. S.B. 297 merely expands the available length of restoration project contracts up to five years when appropriate. Longer-term contracts are particularly valuable for those projects that are larger in scale or demonstrate a legitimate need for monitoring throughout the duration of the project.

Will restoration cost more because of five-year contracts?

No. The length of the contract itself will not raise costs. In fact, it is likely that five-year contracts will decrease overhead costs—both for the agencies and fund recipients—associated with the many layers of preparing and submitting Request for Proposals (RFP) and processing permits on an annual basis. Savings will also be accrued due to streamlining contract administration and a decreased need to closely supervise ever-changing, inexperienced work crews. There will be a decrease in annual crew searches, and workers will be more readily available and more experienced overall. This will decrease yearly start-up costs and decrease costs for reestablishing infrastructure each year.

Will funding be tied up in five-year contracts, stranding critical projects that emerge in the interim without adequate funding?

Remember, not all contracts will be five-year contracts. Only a portion of Coastal Watershed Salmon Habitat funds will be awarded to projects with five-year contracts. Additionally, the Department of Fish and Game does coordinate a fund of $2 million allocated specifically for urgent projects that warrant expedited funding and implementation.

How will restoration businesses be impacted?

Five-year contracts will lead to better business planning and more effective cost management, avoiding the annual “feast or famine” cycle that serves as a fatal detriment to many restoration businesses and workers. With S.B. 297, the restoration workforce will experience heightened continuity from season to season, further mitigating the costly need to continuously retrain new workers each year.

How will this impact the Department of Fish and Game?

S.B. 297 offers a slight reform that should not drastically affect the Department of Fish and Game. The most notable change is that contractors and community-based restoration groups will have more time to work on restoration projects.

What are the environmental benefits of five-year contracting?

Five-year contracts will create a contracting process that will be able to address a variety of ecological needs in a single, more complex project, allowing efforts to be developed with a greater benefit to key ecosystems. Five-year projects will also better lend to monitoring the project’s environmental impacts and improvements over time, allowing for the adaptation of ongoing restoration techniques as the project progresses. Forest and watershed restoration will also see enhanced environmental benefits as a result of a more stable and skilled restoration workforce that is capable of implementing higher-quality work.

How are five- year contracts beneficial to the restoration workforce?

Five-year contracts will allow the restoration workforce to evolve from a short-duration work season to a more continuous, multi-layered period of planning, implementation, and monitoring. Skilled workers will not be continuously lost as they seek more stable job opportunities with higher wages elsewhere, eliminating the need to constantly retrain new workers from one season to the next. Although the seasonal nature of restoration work will remain, workers will experience more consistency on the job knowing similar work will be available the following work season. Different types of work occur at different seasons, allowing individual workers to be trained at several skills. Highly skilled workers will be better poised to earn higher wages, access career ladders, and enjoy job satisfaction.