This position is located within a National Forest. The Incumbent is a biological assistant and is responsible for performing routine tasks supporting Forest Health protection and/or Pest Management Program under a higher graded technician or professional.

Duties

Performs a variety of routine and frequently complex tasks involving forest pest/forest health protection in order to support field projects and program planning activities. Collects insect and disease samples and makes determinations, such as defoliation estimates, tree tallies, tree species injured, and insect identification to taxonomic order and occasionally to family. Makes qualitative observations of injury associated with pathogens and other biotic and abiotic disease factors. Assists in aerial/ground surveys to collect forest insect, disease, tree, and stand data for use in the evaluation of insect and disease outbreaks. Participates in developing new or improved prevention or suppression practices such as pilot testing of various pesticides and dosages. Assists in layout of field experiments, pilot projects, impact evaluations, and suppression projects. Assists in determining validity of survey or evaluation techniques, amount of damage being caused by an insects or disease, and the effectiveness of a suppression project. Suggests improvements of methods and techniques. Is fully responsible for compliance with safety rules and regulations.

Requirements

• You must be a US Citizen or US National.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Direct Deposit Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of your choosing.
• Must be 18 years of age.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-Verify.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary. GS-05: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least GS-4 grade level; OR a bachelor's degree or 4 years of successfully completed education above high school (120 semester/180 quarter hours) 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 and at least 6 semester hours of courses must be directly related to the position to be filled.; OR combinations of successfully completed post-high school education (in excess of the first 60 semester/90 quarter hours) and specialized experience. The education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university. Examples of specialized experience include: Participating in plant-related projects by assisting with measurements, recording observations, and assisting with the collection of biological and vegetation specimens. 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. To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualifications by the closing date of this announcement.

Contacts

• Address USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT Albuquerque, NM 87109 US
• Name: HRM Contact Center
• Phone: 1-877-372-7248 X2
• Email: [email protected]