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Forester (Urban Trees)

Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Capital Area, National Mall and Memorial Park, Division of Maintenance
This job announcement has closed

Summary


AMENDMENT

NOTE: THIS AMENDMENT IS TO EXTEND THE CLOSING DATE FROM 01/09/20 TO 01/16/20.


This position is located in National Mall and Memorial Parks, in the Division of Maintenance, Facility operations, Washington, DC.

This position is responsible for providing strategic and operational level management of individual trees and collective stands of trees in an urban forest environment within a National Park.

Overview

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Job canceled
Open & closing dates
12/26/2019 to 01/16/2020
Salary
$83,398 to - $108,422 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Location
Washington, DC
1 vacancy
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—You may qualify for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with agency policy.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-Time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
12
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
Yes
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
NC-1616-NAMA-20-10662695-DE
Control number
554542500

Duties

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  • Plans, schedules and directs strategic work plans via an integrated urban forest management cycle in order to operate assets at their most effective level.
  • Utilizes cyclic urban forest management strategies in order to establish project scopes, goals, objectives, deliverables, compliance requirements, and alternatives for arboricultural projects.
  • Utilizes professional trade knowledge to develop scopes of work that are congruent to current arboricultural industry standards and best management practices such as the ANSI A300 and ANSI Z133.1 standards as well as CFR29. Serves as Contracting Officers Technical Representative on contracted arboricultural work.
  • Applies arboricultural and forestry professional knowledge in order to develop and maintain a comprehensive tree inventory.
  • Develops a tree management master plan utilizing a 3-5 year cyclic strategy and a parallel Hazard Tree Management Master Plan. Works with subordinates to translate strategic plans into near term operational goals.
  • Responsible for implementing risk management strategies designed to mitigate public safety threats posed by hazardous trees. Performs annual tree inspections in accordance with published and promulgated policies in order to maintain a formal Hazard Tree Management Plan.
  • Oversees the all aspects of the park tree maintenance program.
  • Expert knowledge in arboriculture tree preservation and protection.



Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship required.
  • Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
  • Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males.
  • Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program.
  • You will be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties; a valid driver's license is required. You will be required to submit a Motor Vehicle Operator's License and Driving Record. You must also submit (within a State sealed envelope or submitted directly by the State authorities), and at your own expense, all certified driving records from all States that disclose all valid driver's licenses, whether current or past, possessed by you.
  • You will be required to wear a uniform and comply with the National Park Service uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided.
  • You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work.
  • This position has a mixed work schedule based on the varying workload, and your work schedule is subject to change from part-time to full-time to on-call as workload dictates.
  • If you are a new employee or supervisor in the Federal government, you will be required to complete a one-year probationary period.
  • You will be required to complete a one-year trial period.
  • You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-01/16/2020-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount qualified specialized experience.

SELECTIVE FACTOR: This position performs arboriculture and forestry, soil management; heritage tree preservation and restoration, tree preservation and construction, tree appraisal concepts, acquired through extensive education and field experience, and applicants must possess ISA Certified Arborist, ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, ISA Certified Municipal Arborist, or SAF Certified Forester license. is required. Candidates who do not meet this requirement by close of this announcement will receive no further consideration for this position.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education.

Basic Requirement for the GS-0460 (FORESTRY) Series:

To qualify for this position at the GS-12 grade level, you must possess the basic educational requirement as well as the specialized experience of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

Degree: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree that included a major field of study in 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 above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

You must include transcripts.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience in the amounts listed below.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: Examples of specialized experience include: Participate in the management, planning and oversight of all of timber sale planning/preparation and/or silviculture programs; provide leadership and review of information for use in long-range resource management plans and programs, including formulation of policies, objectives, and priorities; provide expert analysis and advisement to administration personnel in timber removal techniques; and support higher level personnel in all facets of sale preparation, reforestation and timber stand improvement techniques.

You must include hours per week worked.

Volunteer Experience: 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.

Education

To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.

There is no substitution of education for experience at the grade level(s) of this announcement.

Additional information

Physical Demands: The work requires field inspection, investigations, or surveys in which there is considerable amount of walking, stooping, looking up and bending which includes working outside in weather conditions varying from hot, human summers to below freezing temperatures. Incumbent is required to work below and above ground level.

Working Conditions: Field work is generally performed in an outdoor setting, where there is exposure to various risks and discomforts associated with a field environment when inspecting sites with the inherent dangers therin.

The National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for tele-work and the selectee may be allowed to tele-work with supervisor approval.

Other financial incentives (i.e. relocation bonus, recruitment bonus, highest previous rate, student loan repayment), allowances may be negotiated.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document that you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application. Click the following link for more information, https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=Alternate_Application_Information.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

A review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job. If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses provided in the Assessment Questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation, you will be rated 'ineligible', 'not qualified', or your score will be adjusted accordingly. If a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications or experience, you can lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully; errors or omissions can affect your rating.

Candidates will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. These procedures place candidates with veteran's preference above non-preference eligibles within each category. Veterans with a service connected disability of at least 10 percent are listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level or higher. Under Category Rating, candidates will be rated and ranked into one of three categories:

  • Best Qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position
  • Well Qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in most of the requirements of the job
  • Qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in some, but not all of the requirements of the job.
You will be evaluated on the following competencies:
  • Forest Management
  • Horticulture
  • Managing Human Resources
  • Quality Management
  • Soil Science
  • Technical Competence

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