But $205,000? That's insane.
What possible reason could there be for not having state employees in the plant management and highway departments do the labor, perhaps under the supervision of some experts in the species to make sure something didn't go wrong? I can see special procedures to make sure the sole remaining known specimen of a near-extinct wild version of a now-domesticated plant doesn't get killed in the transplantation process, but that would be in the category of maybe a few thousand dollars of staff time, not $205,000.
Somebody needs to give answers.
I don’t know this firsthand, but I heard that GSA is tearing out perfectly good (and relatively new) heating and air systems in government buildings back east to put in geothermal heat/air units. There is no way that is cost effective!