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Hydrologist

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located on a Forest Service Unit where the incumbent performs professional work in the field of hydrology.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
08/02/2024 to 08/16/2024
Salary
$28.73 to - $28.73 per hour
Pay scale & grade
GS 9
Locations
Many vacancies in the following locations:
Arcata, CA
Moscow, ID
Location Negotiable After Selection
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Temporary
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
25-TEMP2-RSRCH-2463-9DT-SM
Control number
802736100

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Duties

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  • Collects, analyzes, and interprets watershed data for input to environmental reports.
  • Participates as a member of interdisciplinary teams working on land management planning, emergency burn rehabilitation, or other Forest projects.
  • Follows prescribed project plans, applies conventional methods to analyze water samples and determine the causes of data anomalies.
  • Evaluates the data, identifies trends and provides oral and written feedback on the results obtained.
  • Prepares and carries out water quality monitoring programs, including preparation of plans, collection and analysis of samples, and interpretation of data.
  • Conducts water resource inventories following established procedures to assemble data bases required to support management programs and Forest planning.
  • Surveys areas needing restoration or stabilization following disturbance by resource activities.
  • Makes recommendations on treatment needs, estimates project costs, and prepares environmental analysis reports for restoration projects being considered for implementation.
  • Plans, conducts, and reports on assigned parts of hydrologic interpretive studies which typically adhere to established techniques and conventional methods of investigation.
  • Collects and analyzes hydrologic data relating to one or more of the three disciplinary fields (ground-water, surface-water, quality-water).
  • Determines apparent reasons for data anomalies, and correlating the wide variety of factors that affect the information presented.
  • Prepares reports of findings for assigned parts of interpretive studies summarizing the results of hydrologic investigations.
  • Participates with higher level project hydrologists in the development of project proposals or descriptions, which summarize critical information relating to the objective, approach, funding, and expected results of proposed investigations.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a US Citizen or US National.
  • Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
  • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
  • Direct Deposit Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of your choosing.
  • Must be 18 years of age.
  • 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.

You must possess the Basic Requirements identified below to be considered qualified for this position, which includes all positive education requirements if applicable. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. When using previous work experience to qualify for the position, your resume must clearly detail the appropriate experience requirements.

Basic Requirement:

A. Education

Degree: physical or natural science, or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in any combination of courses in hydrology, the physical sciences, geophysics, chemistry, engineering science, soils, mathematics, aquatic biology, atmospheric science, meteorology, geology, oceanography, or the management or conservation of water resources. The course work must have included at least 6 semester hours in calculus (including both differential and integral calculus), and at least 6 semester hours in physics. Calculus and physics, as described above, are requirements for all grade levels.

OR

B. Combination of Education and Experience

Combination of education and experience -- course work as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Acceptable experience must have included performance of scientific functions related to the study of water resources, based on and requiring a professional knowledge of related sciences and the consistent application of basic scientific principles to the solution of theoretical and practical hydrologic problems. The following is illustrative of acceptable experience: field or laboratory work that would require application of hydrologic theory and related sciences such as geology, geo-chemistry, geophysics, or civil engineering to making observations, taking samples, operating instruments, assembling data from source materials, analyzing and interpreting data, and reporting findings orally and in writing. In some cases, professional scientific experience that is not clearly water resource experience may be acceptable if such experience was preceded by appropriate education in hydrology or by professional hydrology experience.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education in the amounts listed below.

GS-09: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 grade level. Examples of specialized experience include: Assisting senior hydrologists by carrying out routine projects. Assisting in implementing well-established hydrology programs or projects. Responding to routine questions concerning water flow or circulation. Collecting and analyzing water samples.


OR

A master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education that is directly related to this position.

OR

Combination of specialized experience and education that together meets the qualification requirements for this position. Only graduate education in excess of 18 semester hours may be used to qualify applicants for this grade level.

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.

To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Additional information

PLEASE NOTE: This vacancy is being used to fill positions for FY2025 Temporary Employment Hiring season. The expected start date for this position will be between January 12, 2025 to April 6, 2025.

By selecting the "Location Negotiable" option during the application process, implies your willingness to be considered for any official duty location listed on this announcement and/or those duty locations not listed for this Regional announcement. Pay rates vary depending on location. The salary shown is for the Rest of the U.S. See OPM.gov for additional information on pay rates.

This position is temporary, has a Not-to-Exceed date and will be filled for up to 6 months or as a not to exceed (NTE) 1 year, however an extension of the appointment may be possible without further competition. The appointment may also end early due to lack of work or lack of funds.

Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other groups within the Region who have vacancies within the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in any of the geographic location(s) listed on the announcement. Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration.

The duty station for this position will be at one of the duty locations listed in this announcement. Salary range as shown is the locality pay Rest of U.S. (RUS). Pay rates vary by location. Please visit the Office of Personnel Management's website for additional information on pay rates.

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.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP eligible 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.

If you are retired from the Federal Government and are selected for this vacancy, your retirement annuity may be offset from your pay.

This position is not eligible for telework.

Availability of government housing and federal day care facilities will vary by location.

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

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. Eligible applicants 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. Applicants with veterans' preference are listed ahead of applicants who do not have veterans' preference within each category.

Applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements established for the position will be referred to the selecting official.

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.

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