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Ecologist

Department of the Interior
National Park Service
Capitol Reef National Park
This job announcement has closed

Summary


This position located in Capitol Reef National Park, in the Resource Management & Science Division.

Career-Seasonal appointments are permanent positions and include the same benefits as Career appointments, but do not provide work on a year-round basis. You will work from approximately Mid March and Mid February, and you will be in a non-pay status for the remainder of the year.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
05/25/2021 to 05/27/2021
This job will close when we have received 50 applications which may be sooner than the closing date. Learn more
Salary
$53,433 - $69,462 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 9
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Torrey, UT
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position occasionally.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—Travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will be paid if the selectee lives outside of the local commuting area and is otherwise eligible for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulation. Employer paid and reimbursed relocation expenses are considered taxable income. The NPS does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. Employees should consult professional tax, legal and accounting advisers regarding concerns about the financial implications.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
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
IM-1539-CARE-21-11125517-DE
Control number
602585600

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Duties

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Incumbent will engage in the protection, inventory, monitoring, restoration, and management of air quality, water resources, and upland and aquatic communities. Assists in the development of restoration and conservation action plans in coordination with supervisor for resilience and recovery of natural communities. Uses input from specialists, past studies and GIS analysis to develop restoration and conservation plans. Leads a wide variety of field activities in support of the natural resource program including inventory and monitoring and restoration of species habitat. Develops and implements restoration activities. Gathers spatial data on natural resources. Creates and utilizes databases and datasets to enter and organize collected field data and uses standard statistical methods in the preparation of reports; enters, retrieves, organizes, manipulates and analyzes data from a geographic information system (GIS) and other information management systems and operates data collection equipment. Recommends avoidance, minimization and mitigation strategies for park activities that impact natural resources.




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 may be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties. Prior to your first official motor vehicle operation, and again every year thereafter (or more frequently if management determines such need exists), you will be required to sign an affidavit certifying to your possession of a valid State issued driver's license that is current and has not been revoked, suspended, canceled, or otherwise disqualified in any way to prohibit your operation of a motor vehicle. You will also submit a photocopy of your valid State issued driver's license prior to your first official motor vehicle operation, and again every year, or more frequently if management determines such need exists. Lastly, you may be required to 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 discloses all valid driver's licenses, whether current or past, possessed by you. Please indicate in your application whether you possess a valid State driver's license.
  • You may be required to complete training and operate a four-wheel drive vehicle.
  • Government quarters maybe available.
  • 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.
  • If you are a new employee or supervisor in the Federal government, you will be required to complete a one-year probationary period.
  • You may be required to travel overnight away from home occasionally. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-06/08/2021-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 of qualified specialized experience.

To qualify for this job series, you must possess the following basic education requirement by close of the announcement: Successfully completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree 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. You must include transcripts..
-AND-
To qualify for this position at the GS-9 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

  • SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-7 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: analyzing air quality monitoring/data, developing or engaging in stream, springs or riparian restoration planning, monitoring of water resources, conducting ecologic or rangeland condition assessments, preparing portions of resources management plans that require the application of ecological principles; drafting natural resource specific action plans and strategies needed to successfully restore, manage and protect natural ecosystems and environmental conditions; or prepare air, water, and biological resource related portions of environmental assessments (EAs) for projects in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act. Generally technical work is not creditable. You must include hours per week worked.
  • GRADUATE EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least two years (36 semester hours or 54 quarter hours) of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Master's degree or equivalent graduate degree from an accredited college or university in a field of study directly related to the position to be filled (ecology, biology, or a related field of science underlying ecological research, fish and wildlife management, natural resource management, etc.). You must include transcripts.
  • Successful completion of a combination of graduate education and specialized experience as described above. For example, I have 6 months of specialized experience as described above, and at least 27 semester hours (41 quarter hours) of graduate study as described above. Note: Only graduate education in excess of the first year may be used. You must include transcripts.

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.

Additional information

A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected The display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay.

A Recruitment Incentive May Be Authorized for a newly selected employee when appointed to a permanent, temporary, or term position. A Federal employee who is transferring to the National Park Service from another component, bureau or Federal agency and who does not meet the conditions under 5 CFR §575.102 is not eligible for a recruitment incentive.

A Relocation Incentive May Be Authorized for a Federal employee when the employee must move, as directed by the National Park Service (NPS) either through a management directed reassignment or selection for employment, to a different location at least 50 miles away from the one where his/her position of record held at time of selection is currently located, due to a need of the NPS. A relocation incentive is not the same as a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move and, as such, may be granted in conjunction with one another.

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if identical vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

Physical Demands: The position may require strenuous physical activity including periods of standing, walking, climbing, and lifting and carrying heavy objects. Some activities will occur in physically dangerous areas or settings. Documentary research and report writing work is sedentary, which entails the ability to concentrate and write for long periods of time.

Working Conditions: Work is performed both indoors and outdoors in all types of weather. Assignments may be performed in potentially hazardous areas including steep slopes, rocky terrain, volcanoes, caves, artic environments, swamps, deserts, and forests. Flying in fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters is position.


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

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.

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessments required for this position. 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:
  • Applies Technology to Tasks
  • Ecology
  • Information Management
  • Research
  • Writing


In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires successful completion of additional assessments, including a subject matter expert resume. These assessments measure the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.

National Park Service

The Department of Interior places a high value on diversity of experience and cultural perspectives and encourages applications from all interested eligible candidates, including candidates from all ethnic and racial backgrounds, women, LGBT individuals, veterans, and individuals with disabilities.

Please visit find a park for additional park information.

Agency contact information

Tammy Ice
Phone
435-425-4123
Email
tammy_ice@nps.gov
Address
Capitol Reef National Park
52 Scenic Dr.
Torrey, UT 84775
US

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