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Forestry Technician

Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Explore a new career with the BLM - where our people are our greatest natural resource.

This position is located in the Bureau of Land Management, California State Office in Sacramento, CA. Information about the area can be found at City of Sacramento. Duties may require travel throughout the western states to perform duties associated with national programs.

We expect to fill 1 vacancy at this time; however, additional positions may be filled from this announcement if they become available.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
01/06/2023 to 01/20/2023
Salary
$41,514 to - $66,852 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 5 - 7
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Sacramento, CA
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
76% or greater - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - Current work schedule is 8 days on, 6 days off. Schedule may change based on workload.
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
7
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
CAMP-22-11720289-JB
Control number
698550500

Duties

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  • This position serves as a Forestry Technician as part of the BLM CA Forest Salvage Team.
  • Assist professional foresters, specialists, and team members by gathering a variety of resource information used to prepare timber sales contract packages and other related documents.
  • Conduct field surveys and layout of timber sale boundaries, roads, and property lines. Uses field notes to plot property lines, read traverses, or prepare timber sale maps.
  • Examine timber stands to determine need for, or thoroughness of, insect and disease control and post-fire damage assessment work.
  • Interpret silvicultural prescriptions and marking guides to designate harvestable timber.
  • Lay out timber sale boundaries in accordance with environmental assessments. Mark or designate harvestable timber for appraisal of timber.
  • Compute tree summaries, apply applicable volume tables, and compute the net volumes.
  • Write reports describing timber sale, resource, topographic features, and compliance of timber marking.
  • Utilize various analog and digital tools for forest measurement and resource analysis.
  • Position may require travel and long duty hours. Current team duty schedule is 8 days on, 6 days off, 10 hour days with maxi flex schedule. This schedule may change based on work load and current projects with supervisor approval.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship is required.
  • Be sure to read the 'How to Apply' and 'Required Documents' Sections.
  • You cannot hold an active real estate license: nor can you have an interest or hold stocks in firms with interest in Federal Lands.
  • Direct Deposit Required.
  • Appointment will be subject to a favorably adjudicated background/suitability investigation/determination.
  • Your resume must contain enough information to show that you meet the qualification requirements as defined in the announcement. In addition, your responses to the questions must adequately reflect in your resume.
  • You must pass a pre-employment physical.
  • An applicant appointed to this position must possess (or obtain within 30 days of entrance on duty) and maintain a valid state driver's license while employed in this position.
  • May require a one year probationary period or two year trial period depending on appointment type.

Qualifications

This position has an individual occupation requirement, please read the education section to ensure you meet this requirement.

In order to be rated as qualified for this position, we must be able to determine that you meet the qualification requirements - please be sure to include this information in your resume. No assumptions will be made about your experience. In addition to the individual occupation requirement, you must have one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level as defined below.

To qualify for the GS-05 you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-4 level. Examples of specialized experience may include one or more of the following: Experience conducting forestry aid or technician duties including including collection of forest and woodland management data regarding location, size, character, species, extent, volume, rate of growth, and quality of timber; collection of forest inventory data and defecting for timber cruises; boundary layout of timber sales; marking or otherwise designating timber to be removed in timber sales; map reading and compiling; compass use, navigation, or traversing OR Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with a major study in forestry, range management, agriculture, or a subject directly related to the position, or that included at least 24 semester hours in any combination of courses such as forestry, agriculture, crop or plant science, range management or conservation, wildlife management, watershed management, soil science, natural resources (except marine fisheries and oceanography), outdoor recreation management, civil or forest engineering, or wildland fire science. OR A combination of specialized experience and qualifying education. Only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements.

To qualify for the GS-06 you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-5 level. Examples of specialized experience may include: Provided support with tree measurements, map reading and compass use, species identification, defect recognition and determination, quality determination, traversing, use of aerial photos, and use of timber cruising tools and techniques; interpreted silvicultural prescriptions and timber marking/damage assessment guides to designate harvest timber/hazard tree; measured amount and quantity of timber in designated timber sale areas; applied instructions issued in a cruise plan; performed boundary layout of timber sales OR one year of graduate level education directly related to the work of a Forestry Technician such as forestry, range management, agriculture, or a subject matter field directed related to the position; OR a combination of experience and education to meet the total experience.

To qualify for the GS-07 you must have one year of specialized work experience equivalent to GS-6 level. Examples of specialized experience may include: Experience utilizing computer programs required for data collection, cruise processing, traversing, and Global Positioning Systems (GPS); interpreted complex silvicultural prescriptions and marking guides to designate harvest timber/hazard tree; wrote reports describing timber sale, resource, topographic features, and compliance of timber marking with guidelines; provided technical assistance to specialists in the development of complex logging plans and preliminary road location; administered limited timber sale contracts OR one year of graduate level education directly related to the work of a Forestry Technician such as forestry, range management, agriculture, or a subject matter field directed related to the position; OR A combination of experience and education to meet the total 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.

You must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of the announcement.t.

Federal employees in the competitive service are also subject to the Time-In-Grade requirement in accordance with 5 CFR 300.604. If you are a current Federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must have completed a minimum of 52 weeks at the next lower grade level.

Physical Demands: Duties involve rigorous fieldwork and travel requiring above average physical performance, endurance, superior conditioning, and at least average agility and dexterity. Work requires prolonged standing, walking crouching and crawling over uneven ground, recurring bending and reaching, lifting and carrying of items weighing up to 50 pounds, shared lifting and carrying of heavier items, and similar strenuous activities.

Work Environment: The work is primarily performed in the field in forested environments where exposure to extremes of heat and cold, rough and slippery terrain, wet weather, biting/stinging insects, irritating or occasionally hazardous chemicals, hostile wildlife, snakes, deadfalls and other hazards are common. Work may require long distance travel by passenger vehicle or commercial aircraft, and operating 4-wheel-drive vehicles under adverse conditions. Incumbent may be required to live in backcountry camps for several days. The incumbent is required to adhere to all safety rules and regulations and to use personal protective equipment.

Education

This position has an individual occupation requirement that must be met. To be considered your application must show you meet one of the below experience or education requirements.

Experience in at least one of the following: forestry aid or technician work; engineering, range, or soil conservation technician work that involved the application of cultural, resource conservation, or land management practices on non forest or ranch lands when combined with knowledge of forestry operations and equipment; Farming or ranching work that involved application of cultural and soil and water conservation practices, including safety and use of equipment, and that provided a basic understanding of land use; or forest or range fire control, prevention, or suppression work.

OR

Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree (a) with major study in forestry, range management, agriculture, or a subject-matter field directly related to the position, or (b) that included at least 24 semester hours in any combination of courses such as those shown above for GS-4. No more than 6 semester hours in mathematics is creditable.

If using education to qualify, you must submit copies of all transcripts or a list of college courses that include hours and grades from an accredited U.S. college/university. See Required Documents section for more information.

Additional information

DOI uses E-Verify to confirm employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit E-Verify.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/lnteragency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP): These programs apply to employees who have been involuntarily separated from a Federal service position within the competitive service or Federal service employees whose positions have been deemed surplus or no longer needed. To receive selection priority, you must: 1) meet CTAP or ICTAP eligibility criteria; 2) be rated well qualified for the position with a score of 90 or above; and 3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your CTAP or ICTAP eligibility. For more information: CTAP or ICTAP

Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered for Selective Service

Travel and relocation expenses will not be paid by the Department of the Interior. Any travel, transportation and relocation expenses associated with reporting for duty in this position will be the responsibility of the selected employee.

The official worksite for the selectee is the duty station identified in this vacancy announcement. The selectee will typically report to this duty location on a regular and recurring weekly basis. The selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

This announcement is being advertised concurrently under number CADE-22-11720288-JB, which is open to all qualified persons. You must apply to each announcement separately if you wish to be considered under both recruitment methods.

BLM may use certain incentives, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract high quality applicants.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document, you do not have in electronic form; view the following link for information regarding an Alternative Application

The COVID-19 vaccination requirement for federal employees pursuant to Executive Order 14043 does not currently apply. Click here for more information. 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 Executive Order 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.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Once the application process is complete, we will review your application to ensure you meet the job requirements. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your resume, supporting documentation and responses to the online questionnaire will be made. Your responses to the online questionnaire will be used to measure the degree to which your background matches the requirements for this position. However, your resume must support your responses to the scored occupational questionnaire, or your score may be lowered. The best qualified candidates will be identified for referral to the hiring manager and may be contacted for an interview.

Your answers to the online questionnaire will be used to evaluate your competencies in the following areas: Forest Management, Stamina, Teamwork, and Technical Competence
In the evaluation process, due weight will be given to job related experience, education, training, incentive awards and performance appraisals. Applicants must have a performance rating of at least the equivalent of fully successful to be eligible for promotion or placement. Applicants may provide a copy of a performance appraisal of record dated within the last 18 months. If the applicant is unable to provide a performance appraisal of record dated within the last 18 months, the applicant may provide a written explanation as to why.

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 the following additional assessment: Subject Matter Expert Resume Panel Review. These assessments measure the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.

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