Bracken Management in the Black Mountains

Descriptions

The Black Mountains Land Use Partnership, by way of the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, wishes to appoint a suitably qualified and experienced contractor or contractors to implement bracken management on select sites in the Black Mountains. The total area across all sites to be treated is approximately 320 hectares. Applicants may tender for all or some of the work. One or more successful contractors will apply a sequence of bracken control techniques on 24 priority sites (see maps of Bracken Control Priority Sites) identified by Partners. Contractors will undertake two treatments annually over three consecutive field seasons on each of the sites selected. There will be one early season treatment and one late season treatment between June and September. Treatments may involve a mix of mechanical treatment (e.g., rolling, bruising, cutting), grazing and/or spot-spraying as is appropriate to local ground conditions. Under the guidance of the Project Board, contractors will incorporate local knowledge from graziers, landowners and wardens into their site management plans. Site inspections will be conducted by contractors on sites prior to treatment to assess hazards and inform risk assessments. All site works will, of course, be subject to relevant sensitivities, such as environmental licences, landowner permissions, breeding bird regulations, archaeological sites and stock movements. Licences and permissions will be obtained by the Partnership. Treatments will be monitored and assessed as part of the overall Partnership project to help inform future management action on these and other sites. Site boundaries depicted on the maps are approximate and may be altered to adjust for local ground conditions, breeding bird habitat or other mitigating factors