Skip to main content
U.S. flag
Back to results

Ecologist

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located This position is located at the Pacific Northwest Research Station located in Wenatchee, WA.

Works with scientists in the lab in the areas of pre-fire and post-fire restoration treatments, assessing the impacts of dry forest management on wildlife habitat, and assessing/predicting regional forest change in the context of disturbances

For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Tara Barrett at 509-664-1715 or tara.barrett@usda.gov.

Overview

Help
Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
08/12/2021 to 08/14/2021
This job will close when we have received 75 applications which may be sooner than the closing date. Learn more
Salary
$53,433 to - $64,649 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 9 - 11
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Wenatchee, WA
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Occasional overnight travel 3-4 times per year to other Forest Service offices or field locations and attend other professional meetings.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
11
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
21-RES-11199771-DP-TC
Control number
610521500

Duties

Help
  • Duties listed are at the full performance level (GS-11).
  • Coordinate with agency and outside groups on cooperative forest ecology projects.
  • Uses software programs such as ArcInfo, Microsoft Office Applications, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to analyze ecological data.
  • Provide forest ecology information and data to managers and stakeholders for assistance in designing management studies and sampling protocols.
  • Assist with planning field work and providing logistical support for seasonal field crews for collection of natural resource data.
  • Perform statistical analysis of ecological and natural resource management data using statistical software such as R or SAS.
  • Assist in conducting analysis of ecological datasets related to forest responses to management activities and natural disturbances over multiple time frames.
  • Develop written field data collection protocols to guide accurate and consistent field data collection efforts.
  • Assists team scientists with conducting assessment of the impacts of dry forest management on wildlife habitat, or forest structure change, in the context of disturbances.
  • Assist in developing forest ecology related study designs that address the information needs of stakeholders, including forest land managers, and the scientific community.

Requirements

Help

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.

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 university course descriptions as necessary.

Work Experience: Your resume must clearly document the following for each block of work experience; the beginning day, month and year the work assignment started and ended; the hours worked per week; position title, and series and grade (salary) if applicable; and description of duties performed. This information must be provided for each permanent, temporary or seasonal appointment/work assignment or volunteer work and should be clearly documented as a separate block of time. Incomplete, inaccurate or conflicting work history may not be credited for qualifications purposes. This can result in an applicant not being considered for the position.


Basic Education Requirement for Ecology Series, GS-0408:
Degree: 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 specialized experience and/or directly related graduate education in the amounts listed below.

GS-9: One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS 7 level in the federal service. Specialized experience at this level is defined as 52 weeks of all of the following: Performing spatial analysis of vegetation or wildlife habitat distribution using Geographic Information Systems (GIS); Providing technical expertise for the field crew in forest measurements, plant community surveys, or fuels measurements; Following established quality assurance and control practices to ensure the accuracy of forest ecology data, maintaining the integrity of field data sheets, computer files, and plant specimens; and Compiling, analyzing, and querying forest ecology relational databases.

-OR- a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if directly related to the work of the position in fields such as Forest Ecology, Forest Management, Silviculture, Forest Entomology and Pathology, Wildland Fire Science, Botany, Quantitative Ecology, or Statistics.

-OR- a combination of specialized experience and education described above. Only graduate education in excess of 18 semester hours may be used to qualify applicants for this grade level. The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.

GS-11: One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS 9 level. Specialized experience at this level is defined as 52 weeks of all of the following: Assisting in the development of science delivery products such as webinars, demonstration field visits, publications, guides and on-line resources targeted to land managers and the scientific community; Performing statistical analyses and quality assurance and quality control on natural resource data collected; Analyzing and integrating techniques associated with database management, statistical analysis, and image processing; Provided coordination for and participated on pre-existing partnerships with a wide range of natural resources interest groups and constituencies.

-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) in fields such as Forest Ecology, Forest Management, Silviculture, Forest Entomology and Pathology, Wildland Fire Science, Botany, Quantitative Ecology, or Statistics.

-OR-an appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education described above. Only graduate education beyond what is required for a master's degree, i.e. more than 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D, may be used to qualify applicants for this grade level.

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

This job does not have an education qualification 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.

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 is not a bargaining unit position.

Forest Service daycare facilities are not available.

Government housing is not available.

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.


We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.

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/11199771

Your session is about to expire!

Your USAJOBS session will expire due to inactivity in 8 minutes. Any unsaved data will be lost if you allow the session to expire. Click the button below to continue your session.