This position is located in Region 5, Cleveland National Forest, Resources & Land Management Planning.
Specific duties are to provide professional, scientific assistance to the unit staff and to provide assistance and training to the staff in dealing with sensitive plant species and botany.
Duties
- Provide technical expertise regarding threatened, endangered and sensitive plant species, plant community and vegetation management;
- Monitor effects of activities on plant communities and interpret trends where management emphasis changes;
- Stay informed on latest status of threatened, endangered and sensitive plants to maintain current sensitive plant lists and recommend plants that should be included;
- Conduct training in habitat analysis, plant identification, and documentation in accordance with management plans and objectives;
- Provide professional advice and guidance on botanical issues to colleagues and management;
- Exchange sensitive plant and native re-vegetation program information with other experts;
- Interpret botanical situations on interdisciplinary teams involving specialists from other management groups;
- Design and conduct environmental data collection field surveys, maintaining inventory of plant occurrence records;
- Prepare botanical reports, biological evaluations, and assessments for various environmental documents;
- Prepare schedules, cost estimates and scope of work for field surveys and contracted services; and
- Prepare statistical and narrative reports on botanical topics.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- You must be a US Citizen or US 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.
Basic Requirement:
GS-430:
Degree: botany or basic plant science that included at least 24 semester hours in botany. OR
Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in botany or basic plant science that included at least 24 semester hours in botany, as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
Evaluation of Education: Courses in basic botany, plant anatomy or morphology, cytology, histology, genetics, taxonomy or systematics, algology, mycology, ethnobotany, and those dealing with specific problems of a botanical nature or with specific groups of plants are qualifying.
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-11: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as two or more of the following: Developed, evaluated, and monitored threatened, endangered and sensitive plant species and plant community and vegetation management programs; AND/OR Conducted and oversaw vegetation inventories, population, and community monitoring; AND/OR Assisted in the development and implementation of management plans for the protection and enhancement of habitat for special status plants, and the control of noxious weeds or other invasive species.
OR
Three (3) years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral OR an appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond that is required for a master’s degree, i.e., more than 36 semester hours leading to Ph.D.).
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.
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.