The Forest Service has developed new processes to standardize and streamline End Result Stewardship Contracting. These new processes are designed to be more user friendly for forest staff with an emphasis on customer service and technical support. 

The Forest Service Procurement and Property Services staff are responsible for awarding service, supply, construction, architect and engineering at-incident contracting support for emergency incidents, leasing, IT and stewardship contracts to support mission needs. The National Stewardship Branch was created to process and manage all stewardship contracts funded with retained timber receipts and all Integrated Resource Service Contracts. These service contracts allow for trading of goods (timber product value) for services to be performed when the cost-of-service work is greater than the value of timber.  

Historically, IRSC stewardship contracts have been a challenging and complicated endeavor for inexperienced Forest Service employees. Procurement staff struggled with the timber removal portion of the contract and timber staff struggled with the procurement portion. Many forests elected to avoid using IRSCs and instead awarded multiple contracts to achieve the desired end results (i.e., one timber contract and one service contract for fuels reduction). This approach created additional administrative work for both the forest and procurement staff, operational inefficiencies for contractors equating to increased contract costs, and increased impacts to forest resources caused by multiple entries.  

The stewardship team developed an alternative business approach by creating a team that blends the experience of seasoned procurement contracting officers with the technical skills of foresters and contracting officer representatives. Such is the case of foresters and stewardship procurement analysts Curtis Yocum and Ingrid Anderson, who provide technical support to both forest staff and stewardship contracting officers.  

“I took this gig and gave up my time in the woods so I could help teams stop banging their heads against the wall with IRSCs, to help make it the go-to tool it should be, and to better protect our forests and communities,” said Yocum. 

The 1939 McVey Fire burned over 22,000 acres of the Black Hills National Forest. Following the fire, the burn area was planted and seeded with non-native Ponderosa pine seeds from Nebraska and Colorado. The result was poorly formed, non-regenerating trees that created hazardous fuels conditions and poor wildlife habitat.  

In 2020, an integrated team of Black Hills National Forest timber specialists, fuels specialists and leadership worked alongside the Property and Procurement Services stewardship contracting staff to create an IRSC that combined critical fuels service work and timber product removal. Thanks to this collaborative team effort, two substantial IRSC contracts were developed, advertised and awarded to local timber purchasers.  

The impacts of these two stewardship contracts were impressive, with 15,978 CCF, or hundred cubic feet, of timber sold, 2,034 acres of machine piling of dead and down fuels, 32 acres of hand thinning and piling, 240 acres of pre-commercial thinning, 26 miles of forest road maintenance, one gate replaced and 127 acres of noxious weed control.  

“Truly, goods for services make stewardship an ideal tool for management,” said a representative from the Black Hills National Forest.  

“Couldn’t have done it without ya!” said Matt Daigle, AFMO/Fuels Specialist on the Black Hills National Forest. 

The Black Hills National Forest now has two additional IRSC contracts in the works to continue this great partnership and build on the recent accomplishments.  

If you are a Forest Service employee working on an IRSC contract, please visit the internal PPS website for current stewardship contract templates and points of contact. The website also includes a Stewardship Customer Guide that helps Forest Service employees navigate IRSC contracts from planning to closeout.