Ecologist (Fire) - Direct Hire Authority

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement 07/05/2024 unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount qualified specialized 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.

Basic Requirement:
Required OPM Education Requirements for 0408 Ecology Series:
Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement as defined below. For more information on the qualifications for this position, go to: OPM GS-0408 Ecology Qualifications
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 biology, or a related field of science underlying ecological research that included at least 30 semester hours in basic and applied biological sciences. These hours must have included at least 9 semester hours in ecology, and 12 semester hours in physical and mathematical sciences.

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-09: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 in the Federal service.
Examples of qualifying specialized experience include duties such as: inventorying and compiling data on ecosystem components, such as vegetation or wildlife habitat; monitoring and reporting interactions between grasslands, deciduous forests, and rangelands, caused by environmental factors; or studying the structure and interactions of populations of species in a land area.
OR
Substitution of Education for Experience: 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or equivalent graduate degree in an accredited educational institution concentrated in a field that is directly related to the work of this position, such as in restoration ecology, rangeland ecology, wildlife ecology, ecology, or other directly-related subject matter.
OR
Equivalent combination of such education and experience. For example, I have six months of the specialized experience (50% of the experience requirement), and 27 semester hours or 41 quarter hours of appropriate directly related graduate education (50 percent of the education requirement).

For the GS-11: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 in the Federal service. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include duties such as: planning and implementing studies of ecosystem components, such as vegetation or wildlife habitat; developing and carry out scientific protocols monitoring environmental factors, such as grasslands, deciduous forests, rangelands, and the interactions between them; or studying and reporting on the structure and interactions of populations of species in a land area.
OR
Substitution of Education for Experience: 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. Coursework must be directly related to position being filled which is forest inventory and analysis.
OR
An appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education described above. Only graduate education beyond what is required for a master's degree is creditable for this combination, i.e., more than 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D.

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".

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.