Forester

Summary The incumbent serves as the timber program manager in the Vegetation Management/Natural Resources staff area.

Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.

See ADDITIONAL INFORMATION for the contact information for each location. In order to be considered for any of these locations, please verify that the appropriate location is selected.

USDA Employees: Please refer to the Next Steps section. Duties The duties are at the GS-12 grade level. | Assume leadership and participate in integration of programs and budgets to foster efficient/effective restoration of ecosystems. | Lead the development of short and long-term action plans for integrated vegetation programs and associated budgets. | Evaluate adequacy and effectiveness of vegetation management programs through periodic on the-ground inspections. | Collaborate and develop technical guides and standards for timber resources. | Ability to work with a wide variety of internal and external partners and groups to develop mutually beneficial programs or projects on public lands. | Maintain liaison with diverse organizations and levels of the agency, local operators, groups, and representatives to obtain support and understanding of programs, operations, and direction. | Work with resource specialists to resolve vegetative management issues. | Plan the work to be accomplished by assigning work to employees and establishing production or quality standards for the unit’s work. | Establish and communicate guidelines and performance requirements to employees including conducting formal performance reviews and identifying developmental and training needs of employees. | Foster an inclusive workplace where diversity and individual differences are leveraged to achieve the vision and mission of the organization. | Promote an inclusive work environment that is free from all types of discrimination. | Oversee/conduct technical field reviews to assess consistency of activities with direction and techniques. | Plan and conduct studies on complex problems created by natural resources practices and vegetative management activities. | Supervises more than 25% of the time.

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 General Schedule Qualification 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.

Basic Requirement:

GS-460:11/12

Degree: forestry; or a related subject-matter field that included a total of at least thirty (30) semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least twenty-four (24) semester hours of course work was in forestry. The curriculum must have been sufficiently diversified to include courses in each of the following areas.

Management of Renewable Resources - study of the science and art of managing renewable resources to attain desired results. Examples of creditable courses in this area include silviculture, forest management operations, timber management, wildland fire science or fire management, utilization of forest resources, forest regulation, recreational land management, watershed management, and wildlife or range habitat management.

Forest Biology - study of the classification, distribution, characteristics, and identification of forest vegetation, and the interrelationships of living organisms to the forest environment. Examples of creditable courses in this area include dendrology, forest ecology, silvics, forest genetics, wood structure and properties, forest soils, forest entomology, and forest pathology.

Forest Resource Measurements and Inventory - sampling, inventory, measurement, and analysis techniques as applied to a variety of forest resources. Examples of creditable courses include forest biometrics, forest mensuration, forest valuation, statistical analysis of forest resource data, renewable natural resources inventories and analysis, and photogrammetry or remote sensing.

OR

Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in forestry, or at least thirty (30) semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least twenty-four (24) semester hours were in forestry. The requirements for diversification of the twenty-four (24) semester hours in forestry are the same as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education in the amounts listed below.

Specialized Experience Requirement:

For the GS-11: You must have one (1) year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 in forestry management; or a related subject-matter field. Examples that demonstrate specialized experience include two or more of the following:

• Evaluated and analyzed the project sale folder information and conducted a preliminary field reconnaissance and/ or
• Determined, planned and arranged for the resources needed to complete the layout of sales and/or
• Prepared a summary of all records acceptable for final appraisal, sale contract preparation, and subsequent timber management activities.

OR

Three (3) years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree (coursework directly related to position being filled).

OR

An appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond what is required for a master's degree, i.e., more than thirty-six (36) semester hours leading to a Ph.D.)

For the GS-12: You must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to a GS-11 level in federal service. Examples that demonstrate specialized experience include two or more of the following:

• Participated in the management, planning and oversight of all of timber sale planning/preparation and/or silviculture programs and/or
• Assisted in gathering information for use in long-range resource management plans and programs, including formulation of policies, objectives, and priorities and/or
• Assisted both presale and sale administration personnel in timber removal techniques; and supporting higher level personnel in all facets of sale preparation, reforestation and timber stand improvement techniques.

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.

TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement.Education See QUALIFICATION SECTION for educational requirements.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or 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.
• Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov
• The U.S. Government utilizes Trusted Workforce 2.0 to implement Continuous Vetting (CV) as a-whole-of government approach to personnel security. If selected for this position, you will be subject to continuous automated record checks of criminal, financial, and public record databases throughout your period of eligibility or employment, replacing traditional periodic reinvestigations.
• As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

How you will be evaluated You will be evaluated based on your qualifications for this position as evidenced by the experience, education, and training you described in your application package, as well as the responses to the Assessment Questionnaire to determine the degree to which you possess the competencies listed below:

• Forest Management
• Managing Diverse Workforce
• Oral Communication
• Planning and Evaluating
• Supervision

Your application, including the online Assessment Questionnaire, will be reviewed to determine if you meet (a) minimum qualification requirements and (b) the resume supports the answers provided to the job-specific questions. Your resume must clearly support your responses to all the questions addressing experience and education relevant to this position.

If you meet the qualification requirements and are determined to be among the best qualified, you will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. Noncompetitive candidates and applicants under some special hiring authorities must meet minimum qualifications to be referred.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered to more accurately reflect the submitted documentation. 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.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13110361

Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS account to check your application status.

You must choose to turn on email notifications in your USAJOBS profile if you want to receive important email notifications that may impact your applicant experience (e.g. If you start an application and do not submit it prior to the closing date, USAJOBS will send an email reminder that the closing date is approaching and your application is in an incomplete status). 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 Online" 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 LOCATION INFORMATION: In order to be considered for any of these locations, please verify that the appropriate location is selected. Final determination of duty station will be made by the selecting official at the time of job offer.

• Bozeman, MT; Billings, MT: Emily Platt, Emily.Platt@usda.gov
• Yreka, CA:
• Helena, MT Jennifer Card: Jennifer.Card@usda.gov

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Reemployment Priority List (RPL): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.

Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) provides current or former temporary and term employees the opportunity to compete for permanent competitive service positions. Individuals must have more than 24 months of service without a break between appointments of two or more years and the last temporary or term appointment must have been with the Forest Service. Service must be in the competitive service and have been at a successful level of performance or better. Part-time and intermittent service will be credited only for time actually worked. Non-pay status such as leave without pay is credited for up to six months in a calendar year; anything beyond six months is not credited. Applicants are responsible for providing sufficient information/documentation to determine if the 24 month criteria is met.

PROMOTION POTENTIAL: If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is not guaranteed.

This position may be eligible to telework up to four days per week, based upon the duties of the position. This position may also be eligible for flexible work arrangements as determined by agency policy and any applicable collective bargaining agreements.

This position is not eligible for telework.

The Forest Service may use certain incentives and hiring flexibilities, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract highly qualified candidates. Additional Information is available on the OPM Website.

This is a non-bargaining unit position.

Forest Service daycare facilities are not available.

Government Housing is not available.