These positions are located at a Forest Service Nursery System Facility.
You will provide technical assistance to professional and technical personnel by performing a variety of recurring and moderately complex laboratory tests and packages plant material and/or seeds in support of native seed needs for restoration and/or conservation.
For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Kayla Herriman by email at kayla.herriman@usda.gov.
Summary
These positions are located at a Forest Service Nursery System Facility.
You will provide technical assistance to professional and technical personnel by performing a variety of recurring and moderately complex laboratory tests and packages plant material and/or seeds in support of native seed needs for restoration and/or conservation.
For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Kayla Herriman by email at kayla.herriman@usda.gov.
Duties listed are at the full performance GS-05 level.
Provide assistance by performing laboratory tests to identify the need for native seed restoration and/or conservation.
Use botanical references for plant physiology to effectively accomplish work assignments.
Perform assignments in controlled environments such as, greenhouses, bareroot fields for seedling production, and seed extractory facilities.
Maintain accurate records for chemical applications, cultural treatments and seedling inventories.
Operate equipment (e.g. seeders/sowing machines, transplanters, combines, brush machines, de-wingers, office clippers, eclipse machines, debearders, air separators, screens, data recorders and computers) to perform nursery or seed extractor duties.
Develop reports on detailed biological data following established protocols using various recording methods.
Conduct seed processing (e.g. extraction, finishing, testing, and packaging) in support of native seed restoration and /or conservation.
Assist with forb and grass seed collection, conifer and native seed cleaning, and dormant hardwood cutting collection to support native seed conservation.
Grow seedlings, prepare seed/media, sow, transplant, fertilize, irrigate, control insects and diseases to maintain proper greenhouse and seed bed environmental conditions.
Communicate with crew members during seed processing operations to meet standards and production goals, Communicate with partners to aid in the design of seed research case studies.
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.
Direct Deposit: 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.
The incumbent will be required to obtain and maintain a State Pesticide Applicator's License and a Chemigation License.
Bargaining unit employees performing program qualifying essential duties must be eligible to participate in the Hearing Conservation Program and Respiratory Protection Program.
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.
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.
Specialized Experience Requirement:
For the GS-04 level: Applicants must have six months of any type of work that demonstrated the ability to perform the work of the position, or experience that provided a familiarity with the subject matter or processes of the broad subject area of the occupation AND six months of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-03 grade level.
Examples of qualifying general experience are: Experience in farm/ranch labor, such as feeding and tending livestock or general maintenance of farm/ranch facilities; work in a greenhouse, nursery or landscape business tending plants and performing general labor tasks; or worked as an animal caretaker in a laboratory, zoo or pet store; or other work experience, paid or unpaid, that demonstrates an ability to learn and perform the work of this position.
Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: Participated in plant-related projects by assisting with measurements, recording observations, and assisted with the collection of biological and vegetation specimens.
OR
An associate's degree or two years of successfully completed education above high school (90 quarter or 60 semester hours) that included at least 12 semester hours in any combination of courses such as biology, chemistry, statistics, entomology, animal husbandry, botany, agriculture, or mathematics and at least 6 hours must be directly related to the position.
OR
Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience. The education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college, or university.
To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
Education
See above for education that may be qualifying for this position.
HIRING EVENT INFORMATION:
This National Nursery and Genetics hiring effort is critical to accomplishing reforestation needs and successfully implementing the REPLANT Act across the National Forest System. This includes positions for multiple components of the reforestation pipeline. Positions filled through this event will contribute to reforestation and restoration work directly related to the agency's mission, working to promote healthy, diverse, and productive forests and grasslands across the nation.
Additional information
Salary range as shown is the locality pay area of Rest of U.S. (RUS). Pay rates vary depending on location and may be higher or lower than the amount shown. Please visit the Office of Personnel Management's website for additional information.
Final determination of duty station will be made by the selecting official at the time of job offer.
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.
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.
Positions filled from this announcement may be a bargaining or a non-bargaining unit position represented by either NFFE, AFGE or NAGE.
Work Schedule: Positions may be filled with a full-time or permanent seasonal work schedule. Permanent Seasonal positions will be filled as 13/13 or 18/8, where full time work is guaranteed for 13 or 18 pay periods and when not working, you will be placed in non-pay/non-duty status.
Physical Demands: The work is in a combination of outdoor and indoor settings, often in inclement weather, and often involving sustained lifting, bending, pulling, and standing. Stamina to work for long periods processing seed is required. The position requires a capacity for strenuous physical effort such as bending and carrying or lifting items weighing up to 50 pounds.
Work Environment: The work environment has risks or discomforts that require following normal safety precautions and using safety equipment such as protective clothing, boots, gloves, goggles, dust mask, ear protection, and other gear. Incumbent will use chemicals or other products where following MSDS guidelines is expected. Work may be performed in a seed extractory, laboratory, cooler, or freezer where temperatures can be extreme (warm/cold) and general working conditions may be loud and/or dusty. Rain, snow, wind, or dust may be encountered during periods of outdoor work. Work may also be performed in an office setting where temperatures and general working conditions are favorable. Employee must exercise safe work practices.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Employees are required to wear PPE while performing duties associated with their work.
We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
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 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.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, illegible fax transmissions, delays in the mail service, your system failure, etc. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.
Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; 2) education; 3) detailed work experience related to this position as described in the responsibilities section including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); 4) supervisor's phone number and whether or not the supervisor may be contacted for a reference check; 5) other qualifications.
If education is required or you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application; however, if you are selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.
If claiming veteran's preference, you must submit a DD214, Certificate of Release from Active Duty, which shows dates of service and discharge under honorable conditions. If currently on active duty you must submit a certification of expected discharge or release from active duty service under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is submitted. Veteran's preference must be verified prior to appointment. Without this documentation, you will not receive veteran's preference and your application will be evaluated based on the material(s) submitted.
If claiming 10-point veteran's preference you must provide the DD214 or certification requirements (see above bullet), plus the proof of entitlement of this preference as listed on the SF-15 Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference. The SF-15 should be included but is not required. Failure to submit these documents could result in the determination that there is insufficient documentation to support your claim for 10-point preference. For more information on veterans' preference visit FEDSHIREVETS.
Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.
Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process.
Read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.
Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m. (MST), Monday - Friday. If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be returned to Human Resources no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement in order for it to be entered into the system prior to the closing date.
This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Contact the Agency Contact to request this.
To begin, in USAJOBS click "Apply" and follow the instructions to attach your resume and required documents, complete the assessment questionnaire, and submit your application.
NOTE: Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBS transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable.
USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center
DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT.
Albuquerque, NM 87109
US
Next steps
Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS account to check your application status.
You must choose to turn on email notifications in your USAJOBS profile if you want to receive important email notifications that may impact your applicant experience (e.g. If you start an application and do not submit it prior to the closing date, USAJOBS will send an email reminder that the closing date is approaching and your application is in an incomplete status).
Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, illegible fax transmissions, delays in the mail service, your system failure, etc. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.
Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; 2) education; 3) detailed work experience related to this position as described in the responsibilities section including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); 4) supervisor's phone number and whether or not the supervisor may be contacted for a reference check; 5) other qualifications.
If education is required or you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application; however, if you are selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.
If claiming veteran's preference, you must submit a DD214, Certificate of Release from Active Duty, which shows dates of service and discharge under honorable conditions. If currently on active duty you must submit a certification of expected discharge or release from active duty service under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is submitted. Veteran's preference must be verified prior to appointment. Without this documentation, you will not receive veteran's preference and your application will be evaluated based on the material(s) submitted.
If claiming 10-point veteran's preference you must provide the DD214 or certification requirements (see above bullet), plus the proof of entitlement of this preference as listed on the SF-15 Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference. The SF-15 should be included but is not required. Failure to submit these documents could result in the determination that there is insufficient documentation to support your claim for 10-point preference. For more information on veterans' preference visit FEDSHIREVETS.
Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.
Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process.
Read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.
Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m. (MST), Monday - Friday. If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be returned to Human Resources no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement in order for it to be entered into the system prior to the closing date.
This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Contact the Agency Contact to request this.
To begin, in USAJOBS click "Apply" and follow the instructions to attach your resume and required documents, complete the assessment questionnaire, and submit your application.
NOTE: Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBS transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable.
USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center
DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT.
Albuquerque, NM 87109
US
Next steps
Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS account to check your application status.
You must choose to turn on email notifications in your USAJOBS profile if you want to receive important email notifications that may impact your applicant experience (e.g. If you start an application and do not submit it prior to the closing date, USAJOBS will send an email reminder that the closing date is approaching and your application is in an incomplete status).
Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
Fair and transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
