Summary This position is located within a National Forest.
The incumbent is responsible for packing supplies and equipment to backcountry locations by horse or mule. Duties Packs on horses or mules; trail crews and equipment such as food, tents, and various tools such as crosscut saws, chainsaws, rock drills, rock bars, explosives, grip hoists, wheelbarrows and sleds. | Packs construction materials such as poles, cables, lumber, sand, gravel and bridge materials. Provide pack support for fire crews including food, water, saws, fuel, hoses and portable pumps. | Supports a variety of resource crews by packing netting, plant presses, screens and fragile survey equipment. | Selects the proper type of pack equipment for the loads to be packed. | Arranges animals and pack loads in the proper order when putting a string of animals together. Builds balanced loads using pack bags, slings, boxes, manty loads with sling ropes, pack racks, etc. | Ties multiple hitches (e.g. box, diamond, sling, etc.) as appropriate to the load. | Properly fits all types of riding saddles, pack saddles, and work harnesses to mules and horses. | Evaluates and responds to medical conditions and emergency situations safely for animals and humans. Acts as âWilderness First Responderâ for the animals, providing first aid as needed including administering shots and wound care. | . Must be able to dispatch a horse or mule if necessary; safe use of restraints for doctoring, shoeing, training, or containment purposes. | Ascertains and assigns correct shoeing of horses and mules for working in a mountain environment. | Responsible for ranch and pasture management including the design, building, maintenance, and safety inspections of stock facilities. | Building and maintaining fences (including board, pipe, wire, and electric fencing). | Flood irrigation of native pastures and forage utilization monitoring of annual grassland pastures. | Operates ranch equipment such as a tractor with an auger to make post holes. | Pulls up to 24 foot gooseneck stock trailer and bumper-pull stock trailers to safely haul up to 8 head of stock on rugged mountain roads. | Hauls gear, equipment, supplies, and hay on flatbed trucks and trailers. Hauls tractors and equipment for other functions. | May spend up to 10 days camping in the wilderness utilizing Leave-No-Trace skills. Responsible for all animal care in wilderness settings. | Provides guidance and instructions to student or intern packers. Functions as their work leader on pack trips. | Teaches stock safety classes; puts on packing clinics and demonstrations for beginner, intermediate and advanced level students. | Trains firefighters, trail crews, wilderness rangers and volunteer groups how to work safely around pack stock.
Qualifications
In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's Federal Wage System Qualifications Standards.
Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.
Applicants will be evaluated on their ability to perform the duties of the position rather than length of experience. Eligibility will be determined by the relevance, scope and quality of all experience and training, regardless of where or how acquired.
Applicants will be ranked and rated based on their knowledge of the job elements identified in this announcement.
- Ability To Do The Work Of The Position Without More Than Normal Supervision
- Technical Practices (theoretical, precise, artistic)
- Use of Measuring Instruments
- Ability To Interpret Instructions, Specification, etc. (other than blueprints)
- Ability To Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment
- Knowledge of Materials
- Dexterity and Safety
- Ability to do the work of a motor vehicle operator without more than normal supervision.
There is no substitution of education for this position.
Selective Placement Factors
- A valid state driver's license is required.
Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
Requirements
- You must be a US Citizen or US National.
- Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
- Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
- Direct Deposit - Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of your choosing.
- Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify.
- Must be 18 years of age.
- Must possess and maintain a valid Driver's License.
How you will be evaluated Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your abilities, or you may be found ineligible. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action up to including removal from the Federal service. How to apply Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process.
Please read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.
Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Mountain Time Zone, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be complete and submitted no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement to be entered into the system prior to its closing. Resumes must not exceed two pages.
This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis; contact the Agency Contact to request this.
To begin, click "Apply" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents.
Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration.
Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc. Other information PLEASE NOTE: This vacancy is being used to fill positions for FY2027 Temporary Employment Hiring season. The expected start date for this position will be between April 18, 2027 to June 13, 2027.
By selecting the "Location Negotiable" option during the application process, implies your willingness to be considered for any official duty location listed on this announcement and/or those duty locations not listed for this Regional announcement. Pay rates vary depending on location. The salary shown is for the Rest of the U.S. See OPM.gov for additional information on pay rates.
This position is temporary, has a Not-to-Exceed date and will be filled for up to 6 months or as a not to exceed (NTE) 1 year, however an extension of the appointment may be possible without further competition. The appointment may also end early due to lack of work or lack of funds.
Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other groups within the Region who have vacancies within the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in any of the geographic location(s) listed on the announcement. Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration.
The duty station for this position will be at one of the duty locations listed in this announcement. Please visit the Office of Personnel Management's website for additional information on pay rates in your duty location State.
The USDA Forest Service has legislative authority to recruit and fill Permanent (Career/Career-Conditional), Temporary, and Term Appointments under the USDA Demonstration Project. Under this authority, any U.S. citizen may apply.
Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP eligible must meet the agency's definition for a quality candidate as provided in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of this announcement to be considered.
If you are retired from the Federal Government and are selected for this vacancy, your retirement annuity may be offset from your pay.
This position is not eligible for telework. Availability of government housing and federal day care facilities will vary by location.
Positions filled from this announcement may be a bargaining or a non-bargaining unit position represented by either NFFE, AFGE or NAGE.
