Rangeland Management Specialist

This position is being concurrently announced under Pathways Recent Graduate program as announcement number 24-NPT-SRM-454-79-RG. Current federal employees may apply to both announcements. This position may be filled at the GS-07 or GS-09 grade level with promotion potential to the GS-11.
See Position Information section below for additional details on the positions being filled through this announcement.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:
Degree: range management; or a related discipline that included at least 42 semester hours in a combination of the plant, animal, and soil sciences, and natural resources management, as follows:

• Range Management -- At least 18 semester hours of course work in range management, including courses in such areas as basic principles of range management, range plants, range ecology, range inventories and studies, range improvements, and ranch or rangeland planning.
• Directly Related Plant, Animal, and Soil Sciences -- At least 15 semester hours of directly related courses in the plant, animal, and soil sciences, including at least one course in each of these three scientific areas, i.e., plant, animal, and soil sciences. Courses in such areas as plant taxonomy, plant physiology, plant ecology, animal nutrition, livestock production, and soil morphology or soil classification are acceptable.
• Related Resource Management Studies -- At least 9 semester hours of course work in related resource management subjects, including courses in such areas as wildlife management, watershed management, natural resource or agricultural economics, forestry, agronomy, forages, and outdoor recreation management.

OR
Combination of education and experience: at least 42 semester hours of course work in the combination of plant, animal, and soil sciences and natural resources management shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. In addition to the requirements described above, the following additional education and/or specialized experience are required for the grade(s) specified.
Specialized Experience Requirement: 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.
For the GS-0454-07: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 grade level; OR one full year of graduate level education; OR an appropriate combination of graduate level education and specialized experience; OR Superior Academic Achievement (to determine if you are eligible, go to: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/policy/ApplicationOfStds-04.asp ). The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.
Please note that Superior Academic Achievement can only be applied if you have graduated or completed (or expect to complete within 9 months) all the requirements for a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.
Examples of specialized experience include meeting two or more of the following: Collected basic data from on the-ground observations to determine rangeland activity suitability, ecological heath, ecological status, trends and grazing capacity of the rangeland resource; gathered basic information for rangeland vegetation programs and monitored strategies and activity permits for compliance and on-the-ground results; and/or assisted with rangeland improvement projects and maintenance. OR 1 year of graduate-level education or superior academic achievement.
For the GS-0454-09: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 grade level ORa master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related; ORan appropriate combination of specialized experience and education (only graduate education in excess of 18 semester hours may be used to qualify applicants for this grade level). The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.
Examples of specialized experience include meeting two or more of the following: Assisted in rangeland area analysis to determine ecosystem health, diversity, trend, successional stage, site potential, desired plant community grazing capacity of the vegetation and any special problems connected with the specific land area involved. Planned, established and completed rangeland vegetation management program progress schedule. OR 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree.
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 position has a positive education requirement, as outlined above under basic qualifications. The term positive education requirement refers to an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) determination that the duties of a scientific, technical, or professional position cannot be performed by an individual that does not have the prescribed minimum education. For additional information on the qualification standards for the 0454 series, visit the OPM Qualifications Standard found at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0400/rangeland-management-series-0454/
POSITION INFORMATION: This announcement is associated with the 2023 Society for Range Management (SRM) recruitment event. The targeted start date for these positions is Summer 2023.To see where these Forest Service offices are located, click here. Click each region name to see the different locations within the Forest Service.
Please click this link to see the Career Map for these positions.
If you have questions regarding duty locations in this announcement please email sm.fs.pathways@usda.gov. Please include the announcement number and the exact location(s) for which you have questions in your email.
Positions may be filled at the GS-07/09 level, but will have promotion potential to the GS-11.Employment Type: FULL_TIME