The city of Berkeley released a new project bid opportunity Friday for contractors to cooperate in the reconstruction of the Berkeley Tuolumne Family Camp — part of which was destroyed by the Rim Fire on Aug. 25, 2013. The Berkeley Tuolumne Family Camp has served about 4,000 visitors every summer since its opening in 1922. Burning more than 250,000 acres in California, the Rim Fire burned 120 camp buildings and left 18 cabins standing. This event prompted Friends of Berkeley Tuolumne Camp, or FOBTC, to meet and strategize the rebuilding of the beloved camp. “The mission of the nonprofit is to enhance the camper experience and be the advocates of the voices of campers,” said FOBTC executive director Scott Gelfand. “We have a number of volunteers who work for this nonprofit.” The new construction would include 66 tent cabins, a potable water treatment system and distribution lines for power among other new and improved utilities. In efforts to replant the large number of trees lost in the Rim Fire, FOBTC has organized several annual tree-replanting parties near the camp. FOBTC has also accomplished its $1 million fundraising goal to plant mature trees and restore trails in time for the expected completion of reconstruction in the summer of 2022. The city of Berkeley requires bidders to possess a California “B” contractor's license and plan to complete the reconstruction of the camp within 730 calendar days from the date when contract time commences. The deadline to apply is Tuesday, March 10, 2020. “The goal is for the camp to look and feel very much the same,” Gelfand said. “However, it will be an improvement because we got more land to work with — we got 30 acres of land now instead of 14.5 acres that the camp had before.”

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