Overview

  • Open & closing dates

     09/22/2020 to 10/01/2020

  • Service

    Competitive

  • Pay scale & grade

    GS 13

  • Salary

    $91,231 to $118,603 per year

    Pay rates vary depending on location and the salary shown is for the Rest of the U.S. See OPM.gov for additional information on pay rates.

  • Appointment type

    Permanent

  • Work schedule

    Full-Time

    Duties

    Summary

    This negotiable duty station position reports to the Pacific Northwest Region, Region 6 and is organizationally assigned to the Regional Office, Resource Planning and Monitoring unit located in Portland, Oregon.

    This position provides technical leadership and guidance on natural resource and land management planning activities at a project and program level.

    For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Mark Brown at 971-712-4369 or mark.brown1@usda.gov.

    Responsibilities

    • Serve as a program specialist responsible for providing technical leadership and guidance on natural resource management activities.
    • Advise managers at the agency level and below by interpreting broad related legislation requirements and developing policy guidelines for their implementation.
    • Oversee study projects to develop guidelines, standards and procedures for analyzing public needs, demands, and resource capabilities.
    • Review all long range and short-range action plans to ensure consistency with natural resources program strategies and priorities.
    • Make recommendations consistent with enabling legislation, agency goals and objectives that are based on sound scientific ecological principles, and the needs of program partners and cooperators.
    • Promote studies and the development of data that will help identify high potential program delivery areas and better focus program investments.
    • Provide information on the value and benefit of assigned program(s).
    • Maintain liaison with others, such as scientists or educators, who are experts in related fields to maintain awareness of the latest trends and innovations in the field.
    • Assist in the development and adoption of performance measures that demonstrate program outcomes for reports to congress and the administration.

    Travel Required

    Occasional travel – You may be expected to travel occasionally for this position to attend workshops, public meetings and team meetings.

    Requirements

    Conditions of Employment

    • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
    • Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
    • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
    • Successful completion of one year probationary period, unless previously served.
    • 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.gov

    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.

    This is an interdisciplinary position and may be filled in any of the job series listed below.

    Basic Requirement:
    For the 0101 series:     A degree: Successful completion 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 behavioral or social science; or related disciplines appropriate to the position;
    OR
    Combination of education and experience that included course work that provided the applicant with knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field;
    OR
    Four (4) years of appropriate experience that demonstrated that the applicant has acquired knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field.

    For the 0401 series: A 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 biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.
    OR
    Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor’s or higher degree in a major field of study that included 24 semester hours in course work in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. Related course work generally refers to courses that may be accepted as part of the program major.
    OR
    Combination of education and experience that included 24 semester hours in course work in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position, AND experience sufficient to demonstrate that I possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform work in the occupation that is comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of a full 4-year course of study with a major in the appropriate field needed to perform the work of the occupation.

    In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience in the amounts listed below.

    Specialized Experience Requirement:

    For the GS-13 grade level: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience include one or more of the following: Served as the senior planner for an interdisciplinary team in the development, protection, conservation, and utilization of natural resources impacted by land management planning activities; developed alternative strategies within existing land management and economic guidelines, models and regulations; provided technical assistance in environmental analyses and reviewed environmental documents to ensure adequacy; coordinated public review and input into analyses and land management plans; reviewed long and short-range plans to ensure they were consistent with strategies and program emphasis in an approved land and resource management plan and recommended changes to such plans as appropriate; and/or served as a program specialist in one of the following areas: recreation, natural resources management, land management, ecosystem management, cooperative forestry programs, private forest landowner assistance, forest land protection and conservation, land acquisition and conservation easement stewardship, or environmental stewardship/compliance for natural resource development projects.

    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.

    Work Experience: Your resume must clearly document the following for each block of work experience; the beginning day, month and year the work assignment started and ended; the hours worked per week; position title, and series and grade if applicable; and description of duties performed. This information must be provided for each permanent, temporary or seasonal appointment/work assignment or volunteer work and should be clearly documented as a separate block of time. Incomplete, inaccurate or conflicting work history may not be credited for qualifications purposes. This can result in an applicant not being considered for the position.

    TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

    Education

    There is no substitution of education in order to meet the specialized experience requirement. See above for series specific educational and/or experience requirements.

    Additional information

    This position will be located within local commuting distance of any Forest Service office. The final determination of the duty station(s) will be made by the selecting official at the time of the job offer. To see where these Forest Service Offices are located click here. Click each region to see the different locations.

    Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP/ICTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.

    Veterans who are preference eligible or who have been separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after three years or more of continuous active service are eligible for consideration under the Veteran’s Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA).

    Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) provides current or former temporary or term employees of federal land management agencies opportunity to compete for permanent competitive service positions. Individuals must have more than 24 months of service without a break between appointments of two or more years. Service must be in the competitive service and have been at a successful level of performance or better. Part-time and intermittent service will be credited only for time actually worked. Non-pay status such as leave without pay is credited for up to six months in a calendar year; anything beyond six months is not credited. Applicants are responsible for providing sufficient information/documentation to determine if the 24 month criteria is met.

    Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Employees: Permanent County employees without prior Federal tenure who are selected for a Civil Service position under Public Law 105-277 will be given a career-conditional appointment and must serve a 1-year probationary period.

    For more information on applying under special hiring authorities such as 30 percent disabled veterans, certain military spouses, Schedule A Disabled, etc., explore the different Hiring Paths on the USAJOBS website

    This position is subject to one-year supervisory/managerial probationary period (unless prior service is creditable). New USDA supervisors must successfully complete all components of the required new supervisory training program before the end of their probationary period. (This position is considered managerial, non-supervisory)

    This position is eligible for telework and other flexible work arrangements.

    We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.

    Apply here: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/579447400