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Forester

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The duty location for positions filled through this announcement are not remote and will be located at a Forest Service office. Final determination of the duty location will be made at the time of the job offer. To see where these Forest Service offices are located and where each position is being filled, click here. Click here to view each region or national office staff name to see the different locations within the Forest Service.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
02/25/2022 to 03/10/2022
Salary
$44,740 to - $44,740 per year

Salary wage as shown is for Rest of the U.S. For more information, refer to the Office of Personnel Management, Salary and Wages web page.

Pay scale & grade
GS 7
Location
Many vacancies in the following location:
Location Negotiable After Selection, United States
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for site visits, meetings, and/ or trainings. Some positions may require up to 75% travel.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - or permanent seasonal 18/8 based on location.
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
9
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
22-NHE-0460-7DP
Control number
639008900

Duties

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  • Duties listed below at the GS-7 grade level. Full performance is the GS-9.
  • Collect field data about timber stand composition, size, and condition to recommend areas for cutting.
  • Conduct cruises of timber stands in accordance with agency standards and guidelines.
  • Analyze field data for forest management needs and recommend actions needed to carry out management objectives.
  • Monitor assigned timber sales to report compliance issues to supervisor.
  • Suggest resolutions or changes to practices and resolutions for misunderstandings, complaints, or violations of regulations regarding forest management issues.
  • Prepare timber management reports used to evaluate forest management accomplishments.
  • Report areas of resource impacts within timber sales to identify issues affecting compliance with environmental assessment.
  • Target level duties below.
  • Monitor and oversees cruising and marking of timber in support of timber harvest activities.
  • Determine sale boundaries, proper location of logging roads, acceptable marking and cutting methods, stumpage prices, and the requirements for brush disposal, erosion control, and stand improvement in accordance with agency directives.
  • Analyze forest conditions in areas affected by drought, insects, disease, wind damage, or fire as part of quality control measures.
  • Prepare general logging plans and verify logging system settings in support of timber harvest activities.
  • Discuss technical requirements of contracts to resolve problems concerning contract stipulations and to reach agreement in accordance with agency contracting practices.
  • Prepare and ensure quality documentation such as detailed maps, advertisements, prospectus, and sample contracts in support of timber sale and harvest activities.

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.

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-0460: Degree - 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 forestry; or a related subject-matter field that included a total of at least 30 semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least 24 semester hours of course work were in forestry. The curriculum must have been sufficiently diversified to include courses in each of the following areas:

Management of Renewable Resources -- study of the science and art of managing renewable resources to attain desired results. Examples of creditable courses in this area include silviculture, forest management operations, timber management, wildland fire science or fire management, utilization of forest resources, forest regulation, recreational land management, watershed management, and wildlife or range habitat management.

Forest Biology -- study of the classification, distribution, characteristics, and identification of forest vegetation, and the interrelationships of living organisms to the forest environment. Examples of creditable courses in this area include dendrology, forest ecology, silvics, forest genetics, wood structure and properties, forest soils, forest entomology, and forest pathology.

Forest Resource Measurements and Inventory -- sampling, inventory, measurement, and analysis techniques as applied to a variety of forest resources. Examples of creditable courses include forest biometrics, forest mensuration, forest valuation, statistical analysis of forest resource data, renewable natural resources inventories and analysis, and photogrammetry or remote sensing.

OR

Combination of education and experience -- courses equivalent to a major in forestry, or at least 30 semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least 24 semester hours were in forestry. The requirements for diversification of the 24 semester hours in forestry are the same as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

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-7 level: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-5 grade level; OR one full year of graduate level education; OR an appropriate combination of graduate level education and specialized experience; OR Superior Academic Achievement (to determine if you are eligible, go to: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/policy/ApplicationOfStds-04.asp). The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.

Examples of specialized experience are: 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to a GS-05 grade level performing one or more of the following: As a team member, planned or carried out selected portions of forestry projects such as timber sale contracts, laid out unit boundaries, or cruised and marked timber; Ensured all contract provisions are enforced in accordance with contract objectives; Conducted cruises of timber stands to determine volume of merchantable timber, species composition, accessibility, and environmental constraints; Performed related timber sale preparation, timber stand improvement, and reforestation duties.

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

Education requirement are listed in the Qualifications section.

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 is being concurrently announced under Merit Promotion Announcement Number 22-NHE-0460-7-9G. Current or former Federal employees or other eligible applicants may apply to both announcements to expand all possibilities of consideration since different referral criteria apply to each type of announcement. See the above announcement for more information.

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.

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/

Positions filled from this announcement may be a bargaining or a non-bargaining unit position represented by either NFFE, AFGE or NAGE.

This announcement may be used to fill positions with a seasonal work schedule where full-time work is guaranteed for 18 pay periods and when not working, you will be placed in non-pay/non-duty status.

Forest Service daycare facilities may be available.

Government Housing may be available.

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/11402264

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