The purpose of the position is to perform a wide variety of interrelated or nonstandard biological science technical support assignments in one, or more, of the following program areas: wildlife.

Duties

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore: Incumbent assists the Wildlife Biologist in the implementation wildlife population monitoring and species recovery projects. Work is performed under a variety of weather conditions including extreme hot and cold temperatures, high winds, rain, snow, and mud during day and night. Access to wilderness areas are on foot over rough terrain carrying packs weighing up to 50 pounds for 2 to15 miles round trip so the incumbent must by physically capable of daily hiking for 2 to 15 miles in hot and cold weather. Will be required to operate a government vehicle and must possess a valid driver's license. Incumbent is expected to work both independently and as a member of a team/field crew. Utilizes a variety of computer programs to compile, store, retrieve, analyze and report data including GIS. Badlands National Park: Incumbent assists the Wildlife Biologist in the implementation wildlife population monitoring and species recovery projects. Work is performed under a variety of weather conditions including extreme hot and cold temperatures, high winds, rain, snow, and mud during day and night. Access to wilderness areas will be on foot over rough terrain carrying packs weighing up to 50 pounds for 2 to15 miles round trip so the incumbent must by physically capable of daily hiking for 2 to 15 miles. Will be required to operate a government vehicle and must possess a valid driver's license. Assisting with the assessment of habitat quality/quantity through GPS field mapping and wildlife population estimation techniques. Monitoring of black-footed ferret survival, behavior, dispersal, mortality and reproduction through a combination of spotlight surveys, mark-recapture, and snow track surveys. Assisting with the coordination and implementation of prairie dog trapping as well as preparation and camera trap sites. Conducting disease surveys through live trapping, field anesthesia and collecting blood samples from the local carnivore guild. The live trapping, handling, and translocation of prairie dogs. Dusting prairie dogs' burrows to prevent/reduce spread of plague. Assisting with wildlife population monitoring utilizing radio tracking equipment. Providing communication and data exchange among field crew personnel. The collection and recording of biological data and preparing summary reports. Providing technical assistance, on a limited basis, to other programs within the Resource Management Division including bison and bighorn sheep surveys, weed management, prescribed fire, and paleontology monitoring. In addition will be required to obtain a South Dakota Chemical applicators license and preform duties associated with such. This can be accomplished after starting the job. Wind Cave National Park: Incumbent (s) will assist biologist with the management and monitoring of wildlife species at the park. Work is performed under a variety of weather conditions including extreme hot and cold temperatures, high winds, rain, snow, and mud during day and night. Field work may involve hiking in rough terrain carrying packs weighing up to 50 pounds for 2 to10 miles. Will be required to operate a government vehicle and must possess a valid driver's license. Duties will involve radio telemetry for bats and elk, mapping prairie dog towns, assisting with the coordination and implementation of prairie dog trapping, field anesthesia, and collecting flea samples, and conducting wildlife surveys for elk, bison, birds, and antelope, and night surveys for black-footed ferret. Incumbent will also be responsible for maintaining GIS and tabular wildlife databases and providing summary report. Hours of work vary from sunrise to late evenings, and nighttime schedules.

Requirements

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-12/28/2023-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 of qualified specialized experience. To qualify for this position at the GS-05 grade level, you 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-04 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: experience which demonstrates that you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of this position. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include assisting and conducting wildlife censuses and surveys and assembling the information such as habitat use, sex age, and movement. Follow standardized procedures to collect data on condition of range, forage, or wildlife. Use statistical methods and procedures to perform testing of field data collected. Assists in control of wildlife, participates in capture, applies visual and radio tags, prepares graphs, charts, and illustrations for reports and technical publications relating to wildlife management activities. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least a full four (4) year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with major study or at least twenty-four (24) semester hours in any combination of scientific or technical courses such as biology, chemistry, statistics, entomology, animal husbandry, botany, physics, agriculture, or mathematics. At least six (6) semester hours are directly related to the position such wildlife biology, zoology, ornithology, etc. IMPORTANT - PLEASE NOTE: If you are using education to qualify you must document your course work and/or degree completed in your resume or other application materials you submit. You must submit a copy of your transcripts that identifies for each course the college or university, semester or quarter hours earned, grade received, and date completed. If you are qualifying based on education and you do not submit specific course work information as described previously, your application will be rated not qualified for consideration. (A copy of your official transcripts will be required before entrance on duty, if selected). -OR- Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. You must have a combination of specialized experience as described above and education as described above which total 100 percent. Only education beyond the sixty (60) semester hours above high school is considered qualifying when combined with specialized experience. Thirty (30) semester hours beyond the first sixty (60) is equivalent to six (6) months of specialized experience. For example, six (6) months of specialized experience (50% of the specialized experience requirement) and 90 semester hours with at least twelve (12) semester hours related to the position and three (3) hours directly related to the position (50 % of the education requirement) would be considered qualifying. You must include transcripts. 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

To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.

Contacts

• Address Midwest-West Regional Human Resources Office 246 S Chicago Street Hot Springs, SD 57747 US
• Name: MWR HR West Team
• Phone: 402 661 1986
• Email: [email protected]