Duties

Summary

This position is located on the George Washington/Jefferson National Forest in Roanoke, Virginia.

This position serves as a Watershed Specialist on a Forest Service unit with responsibility for coordinating and leading Watershed Program development, organization, and budget.

For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Christopher MacDonald on 540-265-5135 or christopher.macdonald@usda.gov.
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Responsibilities

• These duties are at the full performance level, GS-12
• Prepare technical reports on hydrologic and watershed aspects of forest management. Provide a variety of hydrologic and watershed recommendations for inclusion in Forest Plans.
• Provide advice, training, and technical support to managers to enable them to meet watershed protection constraints while carrying out planned resource activities such as timber harvest, road construction, range, wildfire, and recreation programs.
• Review projects or activities on-the-ground to analyze watershed impacts as a result of such activities. Oversee current and out-year planning for major watershed projects.
• Prepare technical reports on soil aspects of forest management. Provides a variety of soil recommendations for inclusion in Forest Plans.
• Analyze soils data to formulate integrated planning recommendations for resource management activities.
• Provide soil related information to maintain a Land Management Plan, compartment examination prescriptions, project proposals, and/or environmental analyses.
• Coordinate watershed program budget execution and communicates program direction among the Forest Staff. Develop proposals to secure funding for watershed restoration projects.
• Propose local policy and regulation to cover unique problems which are not covered by state, federal, or other regulations.
• Work with program managers to develop and implement new or revised policy directives or program materials.
• Participate on interdisciplinary teams to provide resource specialist input for natural resource projects.
• Interact and coordinate with regional, forest counter parts and other agencies in watershed related issues.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position for site visits, training and/or meetings.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
12

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:GS-0470: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 soil science or a closely related discipline that included 30 semester hours or equivalent in biological, physical, or earth science, with a minimum of 15 semester hours in such subjects as soil genesis, pedology, soil chemistry, soil physics, and soil fertility.

OR

Combination of education and experience -- courses equivalent to a major in soil science or a related discipline that included at least 30 semester hours in the biological, physical, or earth sciences. At least 15 of these semester hours must have been in the areas specified above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

GS-1315:

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 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

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.

Specialized Experience Requirement:

For the GS-11: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal service. Examples of qualifying specialized experience includes: Collecting, analyzing, and interpreting watershed data for input into environmental reports; Participating as a member of an interdisciplinary team for natural resource/land management planning; Preparing reports of findings for interpretive studies summarizing the results of hydrologic investigations; and/or Supplying soil and hydrology related information to the land management planning process.
OR
3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree (coursework directly related to position being filled).
OR
An appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond what is required for a master's degree, i.e., more than 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D.).

For the GS-12: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 in the Federal service. Specialized experience could include: Participated in hydrologic and soil productivity investigations and studies required for planning and design of multi-purpose projects; Compiled information from investigations and studies into long range prescriptions or plans for watershed management and/or water yield improvement; Reviewed completed watershed rehabilitation projects to determine their effectiveness; Participated in the land management planning process as required in the development of environmental assessments or environmental impact statements; Participated on interdisciplinary teams to evaluate the impact on watershed values.

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.

Education

THIS IS AN EDUCATION REQUIRED POSITION.

Additional information

• 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 the Veteran's Recruitment Act (VRA), 30 percent disabled veterans, certain military spouses, Schedule A Disabled, etc., explore the different Hiring Paths on the USAJOBS website
• PROMOTION POTENTIAL: 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 neither implied or guaranteed.
• Selectee will be responsible for tax obligations related to payments for moving expenses - 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act, Public Law 115-97. Questions should be directed to the Travel help Desk, 877-372-7248, Option 1, or email SM.FS.asc_tos@usda.gov
• Veteran's Recruitment Act (VRA) is only eligible for GS-11 grade level. It does not include GS-12 grade level.
• This is a bargaining unit position represented by the National Federation of Federal Employees, IAMAW.
• Forest Service daycare facilities are not available.
• Government Housing is not available
• This position is eligible for telework and other flexible work arrangements.

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 based on your qualifications for this position as evidenced by the experience, education, and training you described in your application package, as well as the responses to the Assessment Questionnaire to determine the degree to which you possess the competencies listed below:

• Hydrology
• Planning and Evaluating
• Soil Science
• Teamwork

Your application, including the online Assessment Questionnaire, will be reviewed to determine if you meet (a) minimum qualification requirements and (b) the resume supports the answers provided to the job-specific questions. Your resume must clearly support your responses to all the questions addressing experience and education relevant to this position.

If you meet the qualification requirements and are determined to be among the best qualified, you will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. Noncompetitive candidates and applicants under some special hiring authorities must meet minimum qualifications to be referred.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered to more accurately reflect the submitted documentation. 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.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/10914511

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

Trust determination process

Required Documents

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 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 major duties 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.

In addition to the above, you must submit the documents below if you claim in the following:

• Current and former Federal employees: 1) Most recent non-award Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) showing that you are/were in the competitive service, highest grade (or promotion potential) held on a permanent basis, position title, series and grade AND 2) Most recent performance appraisal (dated within 18 months) showing the official rating of record, signed by a supervisor, or statement why the performance appraisal is unavailable. Do not submit a performance plan.
• Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority: 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.
• Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act Eligible Applicants: please review the Required Documents for Hiring Authorities Quick Guide on the Forest Service website.
• Current permanent FSA County employees: most recent non-award Notification of Personnel Action, (SF-50 or equivalent) showing your highest grade (or promotion potential) held on a permanent basis, position title, series and grade AND most recent performance appraisal (dated within 18 months) per above.
• VEOA, VRA , Public Land Corp, Resource Assistant, and 30% Disabled Veterans: please review the Required Documents for Hiring Authorities Quick Guide on the Forest Service website.
• If claiming eligibility under a special hiring authority not listed above, please review the Required Documents for Hiring Authorities Quick Guide on the Forest Service website.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.