Supervisory Park Ranger (P)

Summary
This position is located in Big Bend National Park, in the Visitor and Resource Protection Division.
Occupancy of government quarters is required.
This job is open to

• Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL)
  Federal employees who meet the definition of a "surplus" or "displaced" employee.
• Internal to an agency
  Current federal employees of this agency.
• Land & base management
  Certain current or former term or temporary federal employees of a land or base management agency.

Clarification from the agency
Current Department of Interior Career or Career-Conditional Employees in the competitive service; Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) eligibles; CTAP eligibles in the local commuting area.
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Duties
This is a Supervisory Park Ranger (Chief Ranger) position performing visitor and resource protection, and public use management in Big Bend National Park and the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River. Serves as a commissioned Law Enforcement Ranger responsible for performing law enforcement and all hazard duties and supervising the Visitor and Resource Protection program. The program includes 20 FTE commissioned Protection Rangers, a Public Safety Dispatch Operation, and a zone Wildland Fire program. The BIBE VRP team is made up of approximately 36 full time employees, with an annual budget between $2.3 million and $2.9 million.
This includes managing a traditional Rangering program in an exclusive jurisdiction park that is 801,000 acres in size (1,200 square miles). The all-hazard emergency response operation includes law enforcement, structural fire, wildland fire, EMS, SAR, Aviation, and Dispatch. The Chief Ranger works directly with other state and Federal agencies cooperatively as well as through international border interdiction efforts. This included managing an international Port of Entry. Work with Regional fire management to implement zone priorities while supervising the zone Fire Management Officer.
The Chief Ranger serves as the senior law enforcement officer for BIBE and sits on the park's leadership team as one of the core team members, deciding park priorities and implementing park goals.
Area Information:
Big Bend National Park encompasses 801,000 acres of the Chihuahuan Desert with more biodiversity than almost any other national park and a dark sky designation. Elevation in the park varies from 7825 to 1850 ft. The climate is generally pleasant with hot summers (90-110+ degrees F.) and mild winters (30-50 degrees F.). Recreational opportunities include hiking, bird watching, photography, backcountry camping, bicycling, and river rafting. The park has a post office, gas stations, camper stores, restaurant, library, gym, and lodge.
The gateway town of Terlingua has lodging, restaurants, hardware store, small grocery and gift stores, churches and a bank. Lajitas has limited shopping, lodging, restaurants, golf course and churches. Alpine, Texas (100 miles from PJ) has most necessities, including supermarkets, variety of stores, a hospital, pharmacies, churches, a movie theater, and a university. The nearest larger cities are Midland/Odessa (225 miles) and El Paso (325 miles).
Daycare and School Information:
The San Vicente Independent School District (SVISD) and SVISD Early Learning Center (ELC), are located in Panther Junction and serve those that live in Big Bend National Park. SVISD ELC, is a state-accredited daycare facility for children ages 18 months to 4 years of age. Daycare services are currently free of charge (subject to change). The SVISD elementary school, located in Panther Junction, is a Texas Education Agency, A-Rated, elementary school (K-8). Terlingua (30 miles) has a state-accredited high school, rich in academics, extracurricular, and athletic opportunities for students in grades 9-12. For more information about the Daycare and Schooling, contact Jessi Milam, Ed.D. Superintendent, Cell: (830) 333-1074 or SVISD School Office: (432) 244-3131. Alpine, TX (100 miles) has a four-year university with in-person and online graduate programs.
An active employee/community association sponsors social events throughout the year. Please visit our website for more information at: https://go.nps.gov/bigbendareainfo.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males.
• Subject to pre-employment physical and drug testing.
• Must possess a Type I Law Enforcement Commission.
• Must identify a financial institution for direct deposit of net pay within 30 days of entrance on duty.
• Any individual who is currently holding, or has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet time-in-grade requirements (must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent in the Federal service) by the closing date of this announcement.
• Selectee(s) will be required to carry a firearm while performing duties and maintain firearm proficiency.
• Selectee(s) must be free of any domestic violence convictions. Appointment will be subject to the applicant's successful completion of a background security investigation and favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will be grounds for termination.
• Selectees will be expected to travel in (not pilot) a small single-engine aircraft.
• You will be required to wear a uniform and comply with the National Park Service uniform standards.
• You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work.
• If you are a new supervisor in the Federal government, you will be required to complete a one-year probationary period.
• You may be required to travel overnight away from home. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
• You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
• Applicants must be at least 21 years old.
• The position to which you will be appointed is subject to a financial disclosure reporting requirement and you will be required to complete a new entrant Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 450) within 30 days of your appointment.

Qualifications
All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-02/19/2024-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.
Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 for each federal position listed as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of qualifying experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience.
For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.
Selective Factors: Applicants must meet ALL of the following to qualify:

• Must currently possess, previously held (within the past three years), or be able to obtain a valid Type I National Park Service (NPS) Law Enforcement Commission, or equivalent, 02/19/2024.
• This is a secondary-administrative law enforcement position under the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S. C. 8336 (c) (CSRS) and 5 U. S. C. 8412 (d) (FERS). PLEASE NOTE: Applicants may meet qualification requirements, but may not be eligible for special retirement coverage. If such an applicant is selected, they will be placed in the regular retirement system. To be eligible for Secondary retirement coverage under CSRS, an employee must transfer directly (without a break in service exceeding 3 days) from a primary position to a secondary position. To be eligible for Secondary retirement coverage under FERS, an employee must: 1) transfer directly (without a break in service exceeding 3 days) from a primary position to a secondary position, AND 2) complete 3 years of service in a primary rigorous position including any such service during which no FERS deductions were withheld, AND 3) must be continuously employed in a secondary position(s) since moving from a primary rigorous position, except for any break in employment from a secondary position that began with involuntary separation (not for cause). It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure this office has enough information to determine your special retirement status to ensure you do not lose benefits (normally through submission of your work history or other documentation that demonstrates work history of approved covered positions). You must let this office know if you are in a Primary position.

- AND -
Applicants must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

• EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. Examples of specialized experience could include: (1) Investigating alleged violations of laws or regulations; (2) collecting evidence according to established procedures and professional standards; (3) collaborating with other law enforcement or emergency response agencies on investigations or emergency incidents; (4) writing a variety of investigative and/or legal documents; (5) Providing guidance to other staff on law enforcement policies, procedures or techniques. You must include hours per week worked.

-OR-

• EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least three full years of graduate level study leading to a Doctorate, Ph.D., or equivalent degree at an accredited college or university in directly-related fields such as natural resource management, natural sciences, earth sciences, history, archaeology, anthropology, park and recreation management; law enforcement/police science, social sciences, museum sciences, business administration, public administration, behavioral sciences, or sociology. You must include transcripts.

-OR-

• Successful completion of a COMBINATION of education and experience as described above. To combine education and experience, 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.

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.
Education
There is no substitution of education for experience at the grade level(s) of this announcement.
Current surplus and current or former displaced Federal individuals who have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) must be well qualified for the position to receive consideration for special priority selection. Well qualified means that the applicant meets the following: OPM qualification standards for the position; all selective placement factors, where applicable; special qualifying conditions that OPM has approved for the position, where applicable; is physically qualified with reasonable accommodation, where appropriate to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry; and is rated by the organization at least at the well qualified level on all competencies. Federal employees seeking CTAP/ICTAP eligibility must submit proof that they meet the requirements of 5 CFR 330.605(2) for CTAP and 5 CFR 330.704 for ICTAP. This includes a copy of the agency notice, a copy of their most recent Performance Rating, and a copy of their most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location. Please annotate your application to reflect that you are applying as a CTAP/ICTAP eligible. If you are selected for Federal employment, you will be required to fill out a Declaration of Federal Employment, OF-306, prior to being appointed to determine your suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background investigation. Failing to answer all questions truthfully and completely or providing false statements on your application may be grounds for not hiring you, or for firing you after you begin work. Also, you may be punished by fine or imprisonment (U.S. Code, Title 18, section 1001).
Additional information
A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected the display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay.
A Recruitment Incentive May Be Authorized for a newly selected employee when appointed to a permanent, temporary, or term position. A Federal em...