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Ecologist (Fire) - Direct Hire Authority

Department of the Interior
National Park Service
DOI Regions 9 & 10
This job announcement has closed

Summary

These positions are located at Yosemite National Park in California and North Cascades National Park in Washington State. One position is available at each National Park.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
06/21/2024 to 07/05/2024
Salary
$59,966 to - $94,317 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 9 - 11
Locations
2 vacancies in the following locations:
Yosemite National Park, CA
Marblemount, WA
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—You may qualify for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with agency policy.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
11
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
Yes
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
PW-1546-PWFA-24-12447608-DH
Control number
796823000

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from any U.S. Citizen. DIRECT HIRING AUTHORITY will be used to fill this position.

Duties

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  • Support the NPS wildland fire program of work, including the planning and implementation of fuels treatments, analyzing effects of wildland fires, and applying a science-based adaptive management approach to wildland fire across a network of Parks.
  • Present information as a representative of an organization or agency at meetings, conferences, or symposia, regarding scientific studies, such as ecological monitoring.
  • Conduct ecological monitoring of vegetation and soils impacted by fires, and articulate ecologically sound objectives to strengthen and facilitate the land management planning process.
  • Assist in analyzing fire spread models, fire danger levels, and implementation of risk-based decision support systems for fire management.
  • Collect, analyze, report, and interpret the ecological impacts of fire suppression, prescribed fire, or wildfires for managers.
  • Document trends in large landscapes impacted by wildfires, fire suppression, or prescribed fire, and utilize fire ecology information to inform the adaptive management process.
  • Develop and review fire management plans, and cultural or natural resource management plans to ensure compliance with environmental laws.

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

Salary in this vacancy announcement represents the Rest of US (RUS) pay scale for General Schedule (GS). Position at North Cascades National Park with be under the Seattle-Tacoma GS pay scale.

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.
  • 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 complete training and operate a four-wheel drive vehicle.
  • Work may require travel by fixed-wing or rotorwing aircraft.
  • You may be required to wear a uniform and comply with the National Park Service uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided.
  • 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.
  • Subject to frequent extended travel up to 14 or more nights per month particularly during fire season, and you must obtain a government charge card for travel.
  • You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
  • Government housing may be available on a bid system basis.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement 07/05/2024 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 qualified specialized experience.

For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.

Basic Requirement:
Required OPM Education Requirements for 0408 Ecology Series:
Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement as defined below. For more information on the qualifications for this position, go to: OPM GS-0408 Ecology Qualifications
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 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-09: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 in the Federal service.
Examples of qualifying specialized experience include duties such as: inventorying and compiling data on ecosystem components, such as vegetation or wildlife habitat; monitoring and reporting interactions between grasslands, deciduous forests, and rangelands, caused by environmental factors; or studying the structure and interactions of populations of species in a land area.
OR
Substitution of Education for Experience: 2 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, such as in restoration ecology, rangeland ecology, wildlife ecology, ecology, or other directly-related subject matter.
OR
Equivalent combination of such education and experience. For example, I have six months of the specialized experience (50% of the experience requirement), and 27 semester hours or 41 quarter hours of appropriate directly related graduate education (50 percent of the education requirement).

For the GS-11: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 in the Federal service. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include duties such as: planning and implementing studies of ecosystem components, such as vegetation or wildlife habitat; developing and carry out scientific protocols monitoring environmental factors, such as grasslands, deciduous forests, rangelands, and the interactions between them; or studying and reporting on the structure and interactions of populations of species in a land area.
OR
Substitution of Education for Experience: 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. Coursework must be directly related to position being filled which is forest inventory and analysis.
OR
An appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education described above. Only graduate education beyond what is required for a master's degree is creditable for this combination, i.e., more than 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D.

You must include months, years and hours per week worked to receive credit for your work and/or volunteer experience. One year of specialized experience is equivalent to 12 months at 40 hours per week. Part-time hours are prorated. You will not receive any credit for experience that does not indicate exact hours per week or is listed as "varies".

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

This notice is being issued to recruit personnel to occupations for which a critical hiring need has been identified. To assist in filling these positions, OPM has granted the Department of the Interior "Direct Hire Authority".

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.

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

Individuals selected under this vacancy announcement are eligible for the possibility of extensions or rehire in subsequent service years.

Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be solely on you 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 and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

How you will be evaluated

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

Applicants will be evaluated based on how well they meet the qualification requirements.

Upon receipt of the completed application package, a review of the application will be made to ensure basic qualification requirements are met.

This vacancy will be filled through DOI's Direct Hire Authority. Veterans Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants do not apply to positions filled under this Authority. All qualified applicants, as determined by the SHRO, will be referred for consideration. While managers and supervisors are not required to conduct interviews, it is highly recommended that they do so in order to assess the competencies of each applicant.

If an applicant's resume is incomplete or does not support the requirements for minimum qualifications or specialized experience a rating of "ineligible" or "not qualified" will be applied and no consideration for employment will be granted.

If a determination is made that an applicant has inflated qualifications or experience on the resume, the employee will receive no consideration for the position, as per OPM regulations.

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