But of course, Stig...after all, it's a federal government contract

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Believe it or not, a lot of the restrictions are not based on what the US Forest Service feels are needed to protect the forest and it's resources, but rather based on the results of a long string of lawsuits filed against our activities by urban-based environmentalists. We either play by the rules that the judges have laid out for us, based on the laws our elected officials passed in Congress, or we go home. That's the landscape we occupy.
One aspect of my job as a COR (Contracting Officer's Representative) is to find the narrow space between the "can't do" and the "accomplish the work" within the contract language, the law, and the reality of working on the ground. No one wants to see damage to our valuable natural resources...I just try to figure out where the wiggle room is to get it done so the objectives are met and the contractor makes some money.
Rules governing logging operations are exceedingly prescriptive, and road repair work gets that way too if you need to get off the existing road prism with equipment.