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Fire Ecologist

Department of the Interior
National Park Service
Alaska Eastern Area Fire Management and Alaska Western Area Fire Management
This job announcement has closed

Summary

An initial cut-off date of 29 September, 2022, 11:59 pm (EST), has been established to review and refer the first group of qualified applicants. If no selection is made from the first cut-off list, applications thereafter will be pulled with cut-off dates being the last day of the month for employment consideration.The announcement is scheduled to close on February 28, 2023, but may close sooner if a selection can be made from earlier cut-off dates.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Posted 08/29/22
Location
2 vacancies in the following locations:
Work site options
Telework eligible
No
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—You may qualify for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with agency policy.
Salary
$29.43 - $46.29 per hour

Duty stations of Denali and Copper Center will have additional 4.01% COLA and Fairbanks duty station will have 2.48% COLA.

Pay scale & grade
GS 9 - 11
Promotion potential
11
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
50% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Drug test
Yes
Security clearance
Other
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Announcement number
AK-1537-YUGA-22-11627480-DE
Control number
674011500

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Duties

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As an Ecologist for the Alaska region fire management district, you will:

  • Participate in park and regional planning efforts for fire management, fuels management, and resource management planning efforts.
  • Develop and prepare fire monitoring plans with objectives to adequately monitor fire and fuels management activities
  • Prepare, implement and supervise remote field projects, including use of helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, and boats
  • Manage and input field data collected into computer databases, utilize GIS and GPS systems for data collection and management.
  • Analyze data collected using standard statistical analyses and write management and scientific reports and present results to management and outside audiences.
Please contact Jason Devcich at jason_devcich@nps.gov for more information on the duties of this position.

Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

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.
  • Based on the collateral duty of carrying firearms in the backcountry you will be required to submit to a drug test and receive a negative drug test result prior to appointment. In addition, this position is subject to random testing for illegal drug use.
  • You will be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties; a valid driver's license is required. You will be required to submit a Motor Vehicle Operator's License and Driving Record. You must also 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 disclose all valid driver's licenses, whether current or past, possessed by you.
  • 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 up to 10 nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
  • You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
  • Applicants must be at least (1)18 years old or (2) at least 16 years old and: (a) Have graduated from high school or been awarded a certificate equivalent to graduating from high school; or (b) Have completed a formal vocational training program; or (c) Have received a statement from school authorities agreeing with their preference for employment rather than continuing their education; or (d) Be currently enrolled in a secondary school and either work only during school vacation periods or work part-time during the school year under a formal student employment program.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-02/28/2023-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 position at both the GS-9 and 11 grade levels you must possess the following minimum qualification by close of the announcement:

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. You must include a copy of your transcripts.

In addition, you must also meet the following qualifications:
For the GS 9:

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). This experience includes activities such as: conducting ecological or vegetation monitoring studies; managing and entering ecological data into database systems; assisting in analyzing ecological data and preparing reports for management. You must include hours per week worked in your resume.
-OR-
EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least two years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or equivalent graduate degree in an accredited educational institution concentrated in a field that is directly related to the work of this position. You must include transcripts. . You must include transcripts.
-OR-
A combination of education and experience as described above. To combine education and experience, first take your graduate education, divide your number of semester hours in excess of 18 semester hours by 18 or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study. Then take the number of months of full time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include transcripts and hours worked per week.
For the GS 11:
EXPERIENCE:
At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-9 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: developing and conducting fire ecology, fuels, or vegetation monitoring studies; managing and entering ecological data into database systems; analyzing ecological data and preparing reports for management; assist in writing planning documents for fire or land management. You must include hours worked per week in your resume.
-OR-
EDUCATION:
three years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a PhD degree or equivalent doctoral degree in an accredited educational institution concentrated in a field that is directly related to the work of this position. You must include transcripts.
-OR-
A combination of education and experience as described above. To calculate your percentage of qualifying graduate education, divide your number of credit hours in excess of 36 semester hours or (54 quarter hours) by 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study. To calculate your percentage of experience, divide your months of qualifying specialized experience by 12. Add the two percentages. They must equal at least 100% to qualify using this option. You must include transcripts and hours worked per week.

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.

Travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will be paid if the person selected for the position is from outside the local commuting area and is otherwise eligible for reimbursement of relocation expenses under the Federal Travel Regulations.

Alaska currently does not have a state income tax.

In the event of an accident while traveling in a government aircraft, the payable benefits of a private life insurance policy may be affected.

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

Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position's supervisor.


Physical Demands: Office work is normally sedentary. However, field work 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 over extended periods of time.

Working Conditions: Office conditions require long periods of sitting, working with computers and general lifting, bending and reaching. Field conditions involve the employee being exposed to noise, dust, heat, weather, aircraft turbulence and the hazards of firefighting such as heat, smoke, and fire behavior. Protective clothing and equipment are required in
hazardous environments.

The National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework only during an emergency or natural disaster.

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:
  • Ecology
  • Oral Communication
  • Organizational Awareness
  • Partnering
  • Technical Competence
  • Technical Competence


In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process.

National Park Service

These two positions are located in Yukon-Charley Rivers and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, or Fairbanks, or Copper Center, AK. Selectees may choose duty station.
Alaska Eastern Area Fire Management - (Fairbanks or Copper Center location)
Alaska Western Area Fire Management - (Denali Park)

The Department of the Interior (DOI) places a high value on diversity of experience and cultural perspectives and encourages applications from all interested eligible candidates. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) are fundamental principles that guide the Department and allow us to successfully achieve our mission.

Please visit find a park for additional park information.

This announcement is being advertised simultaneously to merit eligibles in announcement # AK-1537-YUGA-22-11627480-ST.

Agency contact information

Carolyn Byrd
Phone
(907) 887-3925
Email
carolyn_byrd@nps.gov
Address
Yukon-Charley Rivers and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve
4175 Geist Road
Fairbanks, AK 99709
US

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https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/index.htm

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