Forester

These positions are located in the BLM Oregon/Washington Office. The primary purpose of this position is to establish, plan, coordinate, and conduct multi-faceted technical and leadership duties in support of forestry oriented, multiple use land management programs.As the Forester in this position, you will:

Salary Ranges:

Grants Pass OR; Medford OR; Springfield OR; and Roseburg OR: GS-09: $59,966 - $77,955 per year and GS-11: $72,553 - $94,317 per year.

Salem, OR: GS-09: $64,504 - $83,854 per year and GS-11: $78,044 - $101,454 per year.

Major duties include, but are not limited to:

This position serves as a forester in a Bureau of Land Management Field Office. The position is established to plan and layout timber sales as well as to administer timber sale contracts.

The position could also entail managing the special forest products program. This position is critical to the successful accomplishment of the District's long-range forest management program, meeting the objectives of the Forest Plan, and providing solutions for technical, budgetary, staffing, and customer service needs related to forest management. The incumbent in this position serves as a specialist or team lead on designated forest management projects. The incumbent performs a variety of functions in the areas of timber sale planning, environmental assessment preparation, logging systems, contract preparation and administration, landscape forestry/ecology, trespass and/or special forest products administration.

This Announcement may also be used to fill vacancies with Silviculture Duties:

Serving as a Field Office Prescription Writer Silviculturist, or Field Office lead Young Stand Management operations specialist. Serve on InterDisciplinary Teams (IDT) and conduct analysis for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance, designing and administering non-commercial and silviculture-related forest management contracts.

In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience. When using education, a copy of your unofficial or official transcripts must be provided with your application.

Basic Requirement, 0460 Series:

Degree: forestry; or a related subject-matter field that included a total of at least 30 semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least 24 semester hours of course work were in forestry.

The curriculum must have been sufficiently diversified to include courses in each of the following areas:

• Management of Renewable Resources -- study of the science and art of managing renewable resources to attain desired results. Examples of creditable courses in this area include silviculture, forest management operations, timber management, wildland fire science or fire management, utilization of forest resources, forest regulation, recreational land management, watershed management, and wildlife or range habitat management.

• Forest Biology -- study of the classification, distribution, characteristics, and identification of forest vegetation, and the interrelationships of living organisms to the forest environment. Examples of creditable courses in this area include dendrology, forest ecology, silvics, forest genetics, wood structure and properties, forest soils, forest entomology, and forest pathology.

• Forest Resource Measurements and Inventory -- sampling, inventory, measurement, and analysis techniques as applied to a variety of forest resources. Examples of creditable courses include forest biometrics, forest mensuration, forest valuation, statistical analysis of forest resource data, renewable natural resources inventories and analysis, and photogrammetry or remote sensing.

OR

Combination of Education and Experience: Courses equivalent to a major in forestry, or at least 30 semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least 24 semester hours were in forestry.

The requirements for diversification of the 24 semester hours in forestry are the same as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. When combining education with experience, first determine your total qualifying education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; then determine your experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; finally, add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.

In addition to meeting at least one of the Basic Requirements listed above, applicants must have specialized experience and/or education to meet one of the minimum qualifications described below:

Minimum Qualifications, GS-09:

A. Specialized Experience:

Have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-7 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sectors) performing the following: (1) Preparing and/or implementing timber sale and silvicultural service contracts; (2) Executing long range forest management plans such as logging systems, road layout, harvesting, tree improvement, or landscaping; (3) Developing forest management plans, forest inventory analysis, environmental assessments, or forest history reports; and (4) Conducting forest inventories, to include assessments, surveys, layout, reforestation practices, tree marking, and prescription writing.

OR

B. Education: Have successfully completed 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree, in a field that included a major field of study or specific course requirements as stated in the basic requirements. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position.

OR

C. Combination of Education/Experience:

Have an equivalent combination of specialized experience and graduate level education described above. (To calculate, first take the number of semester hours or equivalent earned towards a graduate degree, in excess of 18 semester hours, and divide by 18 semester hours or equivalent. Then take the number of months of experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify).

Minimum Qualifications, GS-11:

A. Specialized Experience:

Have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sectors) performing the following: (1) Preparing and/or implementing timber sale and silvicultural service contracts; (2) Executing long range forest management plans such as logging systems, road layout, harvesting, tree improvement, or landscaping; (3) Developing forest management plans, forest inventory analysis, environmental assessments, or forest history reports; and (4) Conducting forest inventories, to include assessments, surveys, layout, reforestation practices, tree marking, and prescription writing.

OR

B. Education: Have successfully completed 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or LL.M., that included a major field of study or specific course requirements as stated in the basic requirements. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position.

OR

C. Combination of Education/Experience:

Have an equivalent combination of specialized experience and graduate level education described above. (To calculate, first take the number of semester hours or equivalent earned towards a graduate degree, in excess of 36 semester hours, and divide by 18 semester hours or equivalent. Then take the number of months of experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify).

Status merit promotion applicants must meet applicable time-in-grade requirements to be considered eligible. One year at the GS-07 is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-09 level and One year at the GS-09 is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-11 level. (Must submit your SF-50 that shows Time-in-Grade eligibility and reflects your title, series, and grade. No award SF-50 will be accepted).

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).

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.

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".