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ECOLOGIST

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located in Baker City, Oregon at the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Supervisor's Office.

This position serves as a senior ecologist working on complex ecological projects and providing guidance to lower graded ecologists.

For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Lia Spiegel at 541-962-8532 or lia.spiegel@usda.gov.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
10/28/2021 to 11/08/2021
Salary
$77,488 to - $100,739 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Baker City, OR
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Occasional travel for site visits, training, and/or meetings may be required.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
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
22-R6-11274993-DP-TR
Control number
619075800

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Public (U.S. Citizens and Non-Citizens)

Duties

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  • Provide landscape assessments, ecological departure estimates, support to vegetation mapping, and modeling ecological dynamics.
  • Provide analytical support to national and regional insect and disease risk mapping efforts with emphasis on assessment of environmental impact of insects and diseases and other significant disturbance agents at multiple scales.
  • Plan and implement forest health and/or forest health and/or fuels projects will facilitate working with the forests.
  • Provide leadership to, and cooperate with , research scientists conducting studies designed to solve resource management issues related to forest health.
  • Provides technology transfer of landscape analyses to Forests, Districts, and other federal managers.
  • Develop applications for new ecology and forest health information, and alternative solutions to particularly difficult technical problems.
  • Provide detailed knowledge on the ecology of Eastern Oregon and the associated activity and occurrence of various forest insects and diseases is critical to success of forest management in the province.

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.
  • Must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. If selected, must submit proof of vaccination or request a religious or reasonable accommodation.

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:

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 experience and/or directly related education in the amounts listed below.

Specialized Experience Requirement:

For the GS-12: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 in the Federal service. Qualifying specialized experience includes meeting two or more of the following:

  • Evaluated the effects of changing ecological, social, and economic conditions and formulated and recommended short- and long-term ecological objectives;
  • Investigated on-the-ground ecological situations and occurrences posing particular land management problems and monitored long-term ecological studies generally dealing with changes in vegetation over time;
  • Recommended policies, programs, and plans for the conservation, utilization, and ecosystem function of a variety of environments.
  • Developed new techniques, criteria or practices to resolve diverse environmental situations.
  • Conducted statistical/mathematical and spatial modelling and analysis combining areas such as vegetation patterns, forest and rangeland treatments, wildlife habitat, wildfire risk, impacts from climate change, forest insect and disease risk, and other disturbances.
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.

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. 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 many not be credited for qualifications purposes. This can result in an applicant not being considered for the position.

Education

There is no substitution of education for specialized experience.

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 is a bargaining unit designated position.

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.

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

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/


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/11274993

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