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This job is open to

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The public

U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Duties

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Duties listed are at the full performance level GS-13.
Serve as point-of-contact for the WO, other regions, American Indian groups including tribal councils, tribal leaders, native corporations and officials of other federal agencies.
Responsible for the management of interdisciplinary programs involving partnerships with Indian tribes.
Represent the Region or Station in the government-to-government relations between the Forest Service and the various tribes within the region, including those who have an interest in the activities of the region and its forests.
Provide expert advice using the framework of legal, policy, and manual and handbook guidance.
Coordinate and provide training with Forest Service leaders and partners on traditional uses of forests, American Indian customs and practices, working with tribal governments, and farm bill applications and sacred sites issues.
Participate with counterparts in reviewing and drafting national policy, program processes, and design/development of programs to complement cultural differences between the American Indian Tribal Governments and the Forest Service.
Plan projects and activities to ensure protection of American Indian rights and tribal rights and concerns.
Knowledge of American Indian cultures in order to communicate effectively with leadership as well as individuals of other organizations, dignitaries and elected officials with respect to critical issues facing American Indian tribes.
Work with American Indian tribes who have diverse interests, concerns, issues and values that are often specific to individual tribes.
Skill in conflict resolution and interest-based negotiation to resolve conflict, negotiate agreements and achieve objectives with respect to tribal entities.
Evaluate the content of new or modified legislation (federal/tribal/state) for projected impact upon organizational programs and resources.

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.
A valid state driver's license is required.

Qualifications

SCREEN-OUT: Comprehensive knowledge of federal Laws, executive orders, court decisions, treaties, and agreements affecting relevant urban and rural communities, and tribal governments which govern the Forest Service relationship with American Indian tribes is required to prepare recommendations for legislation to change the way programs are implemented. Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of American Indian issues and concerns is required to advise agency officials.
To qualify for this position, your resume must clearly show that you have in-depth knowledge and a minimum of one year's experience working in natural or cultural resources for or with a Federally recognized tribal government, Native American/Alaska Native tribal or inter-tribal organization or institution, or in a tribal community.

You must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement to qualify. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

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 if applicable; and description of duties performed. Incomplete, inaccurate or conflicting work history may not be credited for qualifications purposes and you may lose consideration. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements.

Specialized Experience Requirement:
For the GS-12: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 in the Federal service. To be determined qualified, your resume must show at least one year of experience meeting 3 of the 5 following specialized experience examples:

--Assisting leadership with dispute resolution between tribes and/or government agencies.
--Preparing briefing documents, summaries of tribal relations and consultation activities, and/or summaries of specific tribal concerns for leadership review.
--Coordinating tribal outreach efforts on behalf of an agency or tribe.
--Acting in a leadership or advisory role for official tribal meetings and events.
--Serving as a point of contact and/or liaison with federal agencies or Native American organizations.

For the GS-13: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 in the Federal service. To be determined qualified, your resume must show at least one year of experience meeting 2 of the 4 following specialized experience examples:

--Administering and/or managing work on issues and rights of importance to Native American tribes.
--Developing briefing materials in order to educate on a significant or controversial issue related to Native American tribe(s).
--Maintaining working knowledge of the unique legal relationship of the United States Government with American Indian Tribal governments as set forth in the Constitution of the United States, treaties, statutes, and court decisions.
--Developing public outreach and other strategies to improve the government relationships between tribal, state, local, and/or federal governments.

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

There is no substitution of education for specialized experience.

Additional information

DUTY LOCATION INFORMATION: For all positions, the selectee must be located within a Forest Service Research Station or Region. These positions may be entirely remote or may be telework eligible and have a designated Forest Service office location depending on the needs of the unit. The final determination of duty station will be made by the selecting official at the time of the job offer. See duty station descriptions and contacts below:

Eastern Region: includes Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia. For a Map of Eastern Region:https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/r9/home/?cid=stelprd3799515&width=full. Contactis Nicholas Pardi, 414-297-3640 or nicholas.pardi@usda.gov

Northern Research Station/Forest Products Lab: includes Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maryland. For a map of the Northern Research Station:Locations - Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service (fs.fed.us). contact is Tracy Tophooven, 503-709-2240 or tracy.tophooven@usda.gov

Northern Region: includes Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Idaho. Map of Northern Region: Region 1 - Regional Overview (usda.gov). Contact is Tim Garcia, 406-552-8297 or timothy.p.garcia@usda.gov

Rocky Mountain Region: includes Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. Locations in Rocky Mountain Region: Region 2 - About the Area (usda.gov). Contact is Sylvia Bierman, 303-304-0948 or sylvia.bierman@usda.gov

Rocky Mountain Research Station: includes Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota with a preferred duty station location of Fort Collins, Colorado. For a map of the Rocky Mountain Research Station: About the Station | Rocky Mountain Research Station (usda.gov). Contact is Cindy Gordon, 970-301-0064 or cindy.d.gordon@usda.gov

Pacific Northwest & Pacific Southwest Research Station: includes Washington, Oregon or California to service both the Pacific Northwest and Pacific Southwest Research Stations. Contact is Liz Dent, 503-730-3697 or elizabeth.dent@usda.gov.

Government Housing is not available.

Daycare facilities are not available.

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.

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 at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-and-leave-flexibilities-for-recruitment-and-retention/

We may select from this job announcement or any other source to fill these positions. Additional selections may be made from this announcement.

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.

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.

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

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.

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/11518326

Required Documents

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The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, illegible fax transmissions, delays in the mail service, your system failure, etc. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.

Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; 2) education; 3) detailed work experience related to this position as described in the responsibilities section including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); 4) supervisor's phone number and whether or not the supervisor may be contacted for a reference check; 5) other qualifications.

If education is required or you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application; however, if you are selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.

If claiming veteran's preference, you must submit a DD214, Certificate of Release from Active Duty, which shows dates of service and discharge under honorable conditions. If currently on active duty you must submit a certification of expected discharge or release from active duty service under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is submitted. Veteran's preference must be verified prior to appointment. Without this documentation, you will not receive veteran's preference and your application will be evaluated based on the material(s) submitted.

If claiming 10-point veteran's preference you must provide the DD214 or certification requirements (see above bullet), plus the proof of entitlement of this preference as listed on the SF-15 Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference. The SF-15 should be included but is not required. Failure to submit these documents could result in the determination that there is insufficient documentation to support your claim for 10-point preference. For more information on veterans' preference visit FEDSHIREVETS.

Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.

Help

Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process.

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 (8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m. (MST), 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 returned to Human Resources no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement in order for it to be entered into the system prior to the closing date.

This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Contact the Agency Contact to request this.

To begin, in USAJOBS click "Apply" and follow the instructions to attach your resume and required documents, complete the assessment questionnaire, and submit your application.

NOTE: 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.

Agency contact information

HRM Contact Center

Phone: 1-877-372-7248 X2
Email: SM.FS.FSJobs@usda.gov

Address: USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center
DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT.
Albuquerque, NM 87109
US

Next steps

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).

Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.

To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Therefore, to the extent a Federal job announcement includes the requirement that applicants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 pursuant to E.O. 14043, that requirement does not currently apply. Federal agencies may request information regarding the vaccination status of selected applicants for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as protocols related to masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

Required Documents

Help

The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, illegible fax transmissions, delays in the mail service, your system failure, etc. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.

Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; 2) education; 3) detailed work experience related to this position as described in the responsibilities section including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); 4) supervisor's phone number and whether or not the supervisor may be contacted for a reference check; 5) other qualifications.

If education is required or you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application; however, if you are selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.

If claiming veteran's preference, you must submit a DD214, Certificate of Release from Active Duty, which shows dates of service and discharge under honorable conditions. If currently on active duty you must submit a certification of expected discharge or release from active duty service under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is submitted. Veteran's preference must be verified prior to appointment. Without this documentation, you will not receive veteran's preference and your application will be evaluated based on the material(s) submitted.

If claiming 10-point veteran's preference you must provide the DD214 or certification requirements (see above bullet), plus the proof of entitlement of this preference as listed on the SF-15 Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference. The SF-15 should be included but is not required. Failure to submit these documents could result in the determination that there is insufficient documentation to support your claim for 10-point preference. For more information on veterans' preference visit FEDSHIREVETS.

Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.

How to Apply

Help

Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process.

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 (8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m. (MST), 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 returned to Human Resources no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement in order for it to be entered into the system prior to the closing date.

This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Contact the Agency Contact to request this.

To begin, in USAJOBS click "Apply" and follow the instructions to attach your resume and required documents, complete the assessment questionnaire, and submit your application.

NOTE: 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.

Agency contact information

HRM Contact Center

Phone: 1-877-372-7248 X2
Email: SM.FS.FSJobs@usda.gov

Address: USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center
DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT.
Albuquerque, NM 87109
US

Next steps

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).

Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.

To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Therefore, to the extent a Federal job announcement includes the requirement that applicants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 pursuant to E.O. 14043, that requirement does not currently apply. Federal agencies may request information regarding the vaccination status of selected applicants for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as protocols related to masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.