This position is located in the Catoctin Mountain Park, in the Division of Resource Management. Career-Seasonal appointments are permanent positions and include the same benefits as Career appointments, but do not provide work on a year-round basis. You will work approximately 50 weeks (with two-week furlough) in pay status, and you will be in a non-pay status during furlough. This position is not eligible for remote work.

Duties

The major duties of the Biological Science Technician position include, but are not limited to, the following: Conducts scientifically credible protection, mitigation, and restoration projects to prevent resource damage, restore/maintain the integrity of critical habitats and native plant and animal communities, and minimize human activities that impact resources. Coordinates the annual 8-week Youth Conservation Corps program, including developing project lists, schedules, and leading up to 5 youth in daily field activities. Conducts field activities, including maintaining park trails, using integrated pest management techniques to control invasive plant and animals, and assisting with white tailed deer surveys and baiting. Provides logistical and field data collection support for cooperating scientists conducting research in the park. Assists in the preparation of reports, plans, and guidelines. Draft project reports may include literature research, descriptions of methods, preparation of graphs and charts, and summary of findings.

Requirements

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-02/21/2024-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 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized 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. 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. To qualify for the Biological Technician Position at the GS-5 grade level, you must meet the following basic requirements by close of the announcement: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Experience must be related to the work of the position for which application is made. Qualifying specialized experience may include activities such as: research activity or control program work, nursery work that required the growing and maintenance of plants in a controlled environment, work comparable to that with a large dairy farm where production records, animal environment, and sanitary conditions were kept in accordance with modern dairy practice. -OR- DEGREE: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with major study or at least 24 semester hours in any combination of courses such as biology, chemistry, statistics, entomology, animal husbandry, botany, physics, agriculture, or mathematics. At least 6 semester hours of courses must have been directly related to the position to be filled. The successful completion of a full course of study of at least 12 months in a school for clinical laboratory technicians may be substituted for the 1 year of specialized experience required at the GS-5 level for positions involving microbiology and biochemistry technician work. To qualify for this position at the GS-5 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). Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. This specialized experience includes one or more aspects of natural resource management such as: identification of native and non-native plants monitoring water quality monitoring wildlife populations, entering biological data into database such as Microsoft Excel assisting in summarizing data for technical reports using a backpack sprayer for herbicide application maintaining trails planting trees. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least one full academic year of graduate education in a directly-related field such as natural resource management, natural sciences, earth sciences, history, archeology, anthropology, park and recreation management, law enforcement, police science, social sciences, museum sciences, business administration, public administration, behavioral sciences, sociology, or other closely related subjects pertinent to the management and protection of natural and cultural resources. Course work in fields other than those specified may be accepted if it clearly provides applicants with the background of knowledge and skills necessary for successful job performance in the position to be filled. One year of full time graduate education is defined as 18 semester hours. You must include transcripts. -OR- Successful completion of a COMBINATION of education and experience as described above. Only graduate education can be credited towards the education requirement. You must include transcripts. 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". Experience listed as full-time will be credited at 40 hours per week. 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 Catoctin Mountain Park 6602 Foxville Road Thurmont, MD 21788 US
• Name: NCR SHRO
• Email: [email protected]