Summary Positions may be filled at one or more of the duty locations included in this announcement. Final determination of the duty location will be made at the time of the job offer.
For additional information about the duties, see Additional Information section for points of contact.
USDA Employees: Please refer to the Next Steps section. Duties The duties are at the GS-12 grade level. | Evaluate adequacy and effectiveness of vegetation management programs through periodic on the-ground inspections. | Lead the development of short and long-term action plans for integrated vegetation programs and associated budgets. | Plan and conduct studies on complex problems created by natural resources practices and vegetative management activities. | Keep abreast of state-of-the-art information to serve as a consultant/advisor on all aspects of timber management and program integration. | Inspect programs for compliance with established policies, standards, program objectives, and emphasis. | Work with resource specialists to identify restoration work, designate timber, and prepare contracts. | 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. | Facilitate coordination between staff areas to provide information about research studies and its use for subordinate units. | Work closely with coordinators of insect and disease control programs regarding management, practices and techniques. | Supervises 20% or less 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-0460
• Degree: forestry; or a related subject-matter field that included a total of at least 30 semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least 24 semester hours of course work were 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 30 semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least 24 semester hours were in forestry. The requirements for diversification of the 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 year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. Specialized experience is defined as two or more of the following: managing and overseeing timber sale planning and preparation, silviculture programs, or other vegetation management activities ; and/or developing long-range resource management plans and programs, policies, objectives, priorities or management strategies; and/or providing technical direction and guidance on timber harvesting methods, timber sale administration, or timber removal techniques; and/or leading or coordinating timber sale preparation, reforestation, timber stand improvement, stewardship contract activities or forest resource management projects.
OR
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 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D.).
For the GS-12: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. Specialized experience is defined as one or more of the following: performing vegetation management duties, including timber management, timber harvesting, and timber stand improvement and assisting in the analysis of technical forestry issues; and/or providing advice and assistance on natural resource management policies, practices and vegetation activities; and/or assisting in the development, review, or implementation of short- and long-term plans for natural resource management, land management, vegetation management, or forestry programs and projects.
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 above for education that may be qualifying for the specific grade level.
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
- Oral Communication
- Planning and Evaluating
- Writing
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.
Accomplishment Record Review: If you are found minimally qualified, a rating panel will review your resume and Accomplishment Record narratives. Accomplishment Record narratives should clearly demonstrate your proficiency in the competencies listed above.
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/13107710
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 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.
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.
Locations and Points of Contact:
R1,Kamiah, ID- Michael Blinn- michael.blinn@usda.gov
R5,Redding, CA- Keli McElroy- keli.McElroy@usda.gov
R2, Sheridan, WY- Cordell Perkins- cordell.perkins@usda.gov
R2,Laramie, WY- Jesse McCarty- jesse.mccarty@usda.gov
R8,Jackson, MS-Brian Jackson- brian.jackson@usda.gov
R8, Russellville, AR-Gregg Vickers- gregg.vickers@usda.gov
R3,Williams, AZ-Patrick T. Moore- patrick.t.moore@usda.gov
R3,Prescott, Chino Valley, Camp Verde AZ- Benjamin Deblois- benjamin.deblois@usda.gov
R3,Santa Fe, NM- Yvette Paroz- yvette.paroz@usda.gov
This position is not eligible for telework.
This position is a non-bargaining unit position.
Forest Service daycare facilities may be available.
Government Housing may be available.
Salary wage as shown is for Rest of the U.S. For more information, refer to the Office of Personnel Management, Salary and Wages web page.
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.
