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Ecologist

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located on the Cleveland National Forest, with a duty station of Alpine, CA.

This position serves on a Forest Service unit as a zone ecologist performing complex ecological projects or studies covering the full range of ecological work within a forest or several forests.

For additional information, please contact Jeff Heys @ 619-240-5797; Jeffrey.heys@usda.gov or Nicole Molinari @ 805-305-1999 or nicole.molinari@usda.gov

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
07/17/2020 to 07/31/2020
Salary
$71,638 to - $71,638 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 11
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Alpine, CA
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Term - 13 months
Work schedule
Full-Time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
20-0502-10861167-DP- MAV
Control number
573786500

Duties

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  • Conduct projects and/or studies that cover a full range of ecological work within the Forest (e.g. vegetation, soil, wildlife, endangered species, fire) to support natural resource management.
  • Develop and formulate plans for investigations and analyses of complex projects, which require field sampling, mapping, and sophisticated data analysis to inform forest management.
  • Make recommendations for ecological investigations that reference local land management needs, concern for resources, and management issues that may arise.
  • Use a holistic approach to integrate a wide range of resource management and planning concepts, principles and practices to achieve ecological relationships in forest management.
  • Evaluate and summarize ecological studies of vegetation, soil, and environmental characteristics to produce ecological synthesis which results in recommendations to land managers.
  • Participate in formulating Region, Zone and/or local unit policy as it relates to environmental management.
  • Prepare environmental inventories, impact statements, and analyze the ecological impact of specific plans written by others.
  • Conduct environmental assessments and survey or site investigations to provide specific information in the form of plans of study, scope of work and cost estimates.
  • Exchange information of a technical nature with other professionals in or related to the disciplines and provide clear and factual information regarding ecological and environmental concerns.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service or exempt.
  • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
  • Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
  • 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.
  • This is a term, time-limited appointment with an initial duration no less than 13 months and can be extended up to a total of 4 years.

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-0408-11:
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 biology, or a related field of science underlying ecological research that included at least 30 semester hours in basic and applied biological sciences. These hours must have included at least 9 semester hours in ecology, and 12 semester hours in physical and mathematical sciences

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-0408-11: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as the majority of the following: one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized Experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Specialized experience for this position includes the following: Implementing ecological research programs to create forest restoration approaches for degraded ecosystems; Working with forestry agencies and other cooperators to build a collaborative research program; Managing ecological data, following quality assurance and quality control protocols to ensure integrity of data collected.
OR
Have completed 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in biology, ecology, physical sciences or natural resource management DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE POSITION AS DESCRIBED ABOVE.
OR
A combination of specialized experience described above 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.).

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

See Qualifications section for educational requirement.

Additional information

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL), or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP eligibles 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.

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.

Forest Service daycare facilities are not available.

Government Housing is not available

Daycare facilities are not available


This position is eligible for telework and other flexible work arrangements.

How you will be evaluated

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

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

You will be evaluated in accordance with the category rating procedure as defined in the USDA Demonstration Project Plan. Applicants who meet the basic minimum qualification requirements established for the position will be placed in the Eligible category. You will be further evaluated against criteria for placement in the Quality category. This evaluation is based on the level of your experience, education, and/or training as determined by your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire. Individuals with veterans' preference are listed ahead of applicants who do not have veterans' preference within each category.

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.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/10861167

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