This position is located in the Pacific Northwest Regional Office, Region 6, in a Forest Service office at one of the following duty stations: Portland, Baker City, Bend, Medford, Sandy, Oregon or Wenatchee, WA. This position serves as a Regional Forest Health Protection Team Lead for Forest Pathology within the State, Private, and Tribal Forestry (SPTF) organization. For information about this position, please contact Samantha Carroll at (907) 268-9656 or email: [email protected]

Duties

Provide professional assistance to all Federal, State, and private agencies within the Region. Direct the development of work plans, field staff program of work, staffing plans, budgets, policies, and guiding activities to accomplish program objectives. Formulate and establish Regional policies, programs, and standards for federally funded forest insect and disease prevention, suppression and restoration projects. Develop annual and long-term pest management programs for the field staff. Provide technical assistance concerning forest insects/pathogens to land managers Develop guidelines by identifying and determining the present amount of damage caused and exercises scientific judgement of a high order in evaluating the actual or potential seriousness of the infestation. May serve as the Director's coordinator representing the Director at technical meetings, meeting with distinguished visitors, and maintaining relationships with Forest Service Research Station staffs. Serve as a recognized scientific expert in Forest Health Protection (FHP), including forest insect and pathogen detection, evaluation, prevention and control. Develop reports and publications such as insect and disease conditions, forest pest leaflets, and other special publications to meet state, private, and federal land managers needs and to meet national FHP reporting requirements. Responsible for program management, planning, budgeting and management information (PBMI) for identifying work force and organizational needs and staff priorities. Responsibilities listed above are at the full performance level of GS 13.

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Successful completion of one year probationary period, unless previously served.
• Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov

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. Basic Requirement: 0434 Plant Pathology 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: plant pathology; or a related scientific discipline that included at least 20 semester hours in basic botany or plant science, and 10 semester hours in plant pathology. Courses in botany, plant physiology, plant taxonomy, plant pathology, agronomy, forestry, horticulture, or similar subjects may be used to meet the 20-semester-hour requirement in basic botany or plant science. To meet the specific 10-semester-hour requirement in plant pathology, the courses must have been in plant pathology, or have dealt with specific subject matter areas of plant pathology such as those concerned with viruses, fungal or bacterial diseases, host-plant relationships, biotic or chemical controls, environmental or physiological diseases, parasitic diseases, etc. 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-12 - You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level in the Federal service. Qualifying specialized experience included meeting one or more of the following: Planned, conducted, and reported on the status of plant pathogens or other forest health issues on Federal, state, or private lands; planned or conducted suppression and prevention projects that reduced the adverse effects of a pathogen on forest health conditions; and/or assisted with the development of management practices to reduce losses or control disease spread. For the GS-13: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service. Qualifying specialized experience included meeting one or more of the following: Coordinated and implemented a pathogen or forest health detection, evaluation, prevention, and control program; planned, coordinated, conducted, and reported on the status of plant pathogens or other forest health issues on Federal, state, or private lands; completed suppression and prevention projects that reduced the adverse effects of a pathogen on forest health conditions; and/or formulated and recommended management practices that reduced losses or controlled disease spread. 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. Work Experience: Your resume must clearly document the following for each block of work experience; the beginning day, month and year the work assignment started and ended; the hours worked per week; position title, and series and grade if applicable; and description of duties performed. This information must be provided for each permanent, temporary or seasonal appointment/work assignment or volunteer work and should be clearly documented as a separate block of time. Incomplete, inaccurate or conflicting work history may not be credited for qualifications purposes. This can result in an applicant not being considered for the position. TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

See above for education that may be qualifying.

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]