Job opening: Horticulturist

Salary: $75 715 - 98 426 per year

Published at: May 30 2024

Employment Type: Full-time

This position is located at Petersburg National Battlefield, in the Northeast Region.

Duties

This is a term position (more than 1 year) with an initial appointment expecting to last at least 13 months but may be extended up to a total of four years, or more based on any changes to regulations governing the number of years term appointments may last, without further competition. Term positions do not convey permanent status in the Federal service. The National Park Service retains the right to extend the duration of this appointment after selection and/or appointment, based on changes to the regulation governing the number of years term appointments may last. This change, which may be made at the agency's sole discretion and without further competition, shall not be construed or interpreted as the granting of a right to a selectee or employee to such an extension. No extension to a term appointment shall be granted to a selectee/employee to an amount of time that exceeds the maximum number of years authorized under any present or current regulation, unless such regulation expressly allows such action. Petersburg National Battlefield is situated across 2,700 acres in the City of Petersburg, Dinwiddie County, Prince George County, and the City of Hopewell, Virginia. Petersburg is located 25 miles south of Richmond, Virginia and along major interstates. Park housing is not available. For more information, please visit www.nps.gov/pete. Major duties include, but are not limited to the following: Develops a Preservation Maintenance Plan for Poplar Grove National Cemetery, a unit of Petersburg National Battlefield that defines preservation objectives and an annual calendar of maintenance activities and task descriptions. Outlines issues to address when determining how this preservation maintenance plan will support existing maintenance program. Conducts field inspection and outlines how to conduct field inspections for varied types of landscape features. Keeps records of maintenance activities and evaluates effectiveness of landscape maintenance operation. Provides technical guidance for landscape management operations determining equipment and material requirements. Explains work requirements, methods, and procedures based on horticultural standards. Trains crews to use proper techniques.

Requirements

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-06/13/2024-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 of qualified specialized experience. Individual Occupational Requirements Basic Requirements Degree: horticulture; or a related discipline of basic plant science that included at least 30 semester hours in the basic plant sciences, of which at least 16 semester hours were in horticultural subjects such as those dealing with the breeding, care, management, production, and post-harvest handling of horticultural crops. OR Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in horticulture or a related discipline of basic plant science that included course work as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Evaluation of Education: Courses in botany, plant physiology, plant taxonomy, plant pathology, genetics, agronomy, horticulture, and similar courses may be used to meet the 30-semester-hour requirement in basic plant sciences. The 16-semester-hour requirement in horticulture includes course work in basic horticulture and course work related to any of the recognized subject-matter fields of horticulture, i.e., fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, nursery work, seed production, or course work in related areas of science, such as micro-biology, entomology, plant pathology, plant physiology, or genetics that is directly related to horticultural work. To qualify for this position at the GS-11 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-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: Nursery work that required the growing and maintenance of plants in a controlled environment; professional work involving the care of a historic orchard and surrounding historic landscape; propagation and cultivation of a variety of trees including planting, grafting, pruning, transplanting; caring for very old trees; providing public information concerning historic landscapes; independently performing a wide range of orchard, field, gardening work using various hand and mechanical tools and equipment. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least three years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in Horticulture or another field closely related to plant science or natural resource management. You must include transcripts. -OR- Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. To combine education and experience, first calculate your percentage of qualifying graduate education by dividing your number of semester hours in excess of 36 semester hours by 18 or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study. Then take the number of months of full-time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. For example, 45 semester hours of graduate education (50% of education requirement) plus 6 months specialized experience (50 % of experience requirement) would qualify an applicant for this position. Only graduate education beyond the first two years is creditable toward the GS-11. You must include transcripts and hours worked per week in your resume. 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.