This position is located in Natchez Trace Parkway, in the Mississippi River Zone Fire and Aviation Managment Division.
A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected The display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay.
- Coordinates with the park compliance coordinator(s) to ensure these plans are consistent with land and resource management plans (L/RMPs), laws, policies, regulations, and environmental mandates (e.g., National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Air Act, National Historic Preservation Act, etc.)
- Presents technical information and complex issues coherently and concisely that is understandable to a variety of audiences.
- Provides technical advice in the implementation of fire management plans and supporting plans (e.g., prescribed fire, fire danger or prevention plans) and applications (e.g., decision support tools, wildland fire reporting,).
- Coordinates the collection, review, retention, and appropriate record-keeping for documents related to fire management plans.
- Coordinates fire planning-related agreements between park fire programs and cooperating agencies and organizations.
- Reviews fire management data for adequacy, appropriateness, and accuracy.
- Ensures fire management plan updates are timely, accurate, and defensible within established standards.
- Provides guidance to field units on data collection and evaluation of fire hazard, fuels, historic fire occurrence, fire effects, climatology, and weather conditions.
- Serves as the subject matter expert for wildland fire decision support tools and programs.
- Schedules and conducts formal and informal training and serves as instructor and/or coach at the unit or zone level.
- Provides unit technical advice for short- and long-term strategic fire management planning, assessments, and interagency and/or unit fire management plans.
Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.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 qualified specialized experience.
SELECTIVE FACTOR: Candidates must possess a minimum of 90-days of wildland firefighting experience, gained through fire line work in containment, control, suppression or use of wildland fire. You must clearly demonstrate this experience in your resume, including the months, days and hours per week at which the work was performed in order to be considered. A minimum of 90 days of wildland firefighting experience is required to meet qualifications for secondary (administrative) covered positions. The Department of Interior defines wildland firefighting experience as: On-the-line wildland firefighting experience gained through containment, control, suppression, or use of wildland fire. This experience can be met by serving in a temporary, seasonal, or equivalent private sector fire position for no less than 90 days. Periods of wildland firefighting experience, gained through militia and rural fire departments, can also be credited, as long as the total amount of this experience equates to at least 90 days. Wildland fire is defined as any non-structure fire that occurs in the wildland. Two distinct types of wildland fire have been defined and include wildfire and prescribed fires as follows: Wildfire: Unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires that are declared wildfires. Prescribed Fires: Planned ignitions. This description includes only fireline experience on a Prescribed Fire; it does not include experience in the planning stages. Prescribed fire experience must be supplemented by fire suppression experience in order to be creditable as previous wildland firefighting experience. You must clearly demonstrate this experience in your resume, including the months, days and hours per week at which the work was performed in order to be considered.
BASIC QUALIFICATION: General Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences Series, 0401
1. Degree: Biological Sciences, Agriculture, Natural Resource Management, Chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.
NOTE: The following additional subject fields have been determined to be acceptable as directly related degree programs for fire management jobs in this series: wildland fire management, forestry agronomy, biochemistry, biometrics, ecology, fishery biology, general fish and wildlife administration, horticulture, natural resources management, physiology, plant physiology, rangeland management, soil science, wildlife biology, zoology, agricultural extension, animal science, botany, entomology, genetics, microbiology, pharmacology, plant pathology, plant protection and quarantine, soil conservation, toxicology, wildlife refuge management. In addition, natural resources related disciplines include chemistry, environmental sciences (not environmental or natural resources policy), hydrology, outdoor recreation if it has a natural resource emphasis, physics, fire management, earth sciences, geology, meteorology related weather, climate, physical geography if it has a natural resource emphasis, and watershed management. You must provide a legible copy of your transcript(s) -OR-
2. Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. You must provide a legible copy of your transcript(s). Courses equivalent to a major may be defined as 24 semester hours in biological sciences, natural resources, wildland fire management, forestry or agriculture equivalent to a major field, of study, plus appropriate experience or additional education that is comparable to that acquired through successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in the biological sciences, agriculture, or natural resources.
Specialized experience and education requirements for GS-7 and above Fire Program Management Specialists:
In addition to meeting the basic entry qualification requirements, applicants must have specialized experience and/or directly related education in the amounts shown below:
Applicants must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by closing date of the announcement:
GS-09: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-7 grade level is required in addition to meeting the basic qualification requirements. Experience must demonstrate an understanding of fire behavior relative to fuels, weather, and topography and how fire affects natural and cultural resources. Examples of GS-07 experience may include:
- Wildland fire activities (such as planning and/or implementing prescribed fire or managing wildfires) to ensure resource objectives can be met from a fire management standpoint.
- Developing and/or implementing initial attack incident management strategies and tactics to meet the stated resource objectives.
- Implementing mitigation measures during wildland fire activities to protect sensitive habitats, endangered species, sensitive plants, or cultural values. -OR-
EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least a Master's (or equivalent graduate degree). You must provide a copy of your transcript(s). -OR-
2 academic years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree. You must provide a copy of your transcript(s).
GS-11: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-9 grade level is required in addition to meeting the basic qualification requirements. Experience at the GS-9 must include Fire Program Management elements such as described below:
- Developing, reviewing and evaluating fire management plans for ecological soundness, or consistency with land management goals and/or potentially adverse impacts to cultural and natural resources;
- Conducting field inspections before and after prescribed or wildfires to determine if resource objectives were achieved and/or to evaluate the effectiveness of actions taken; and,
- Analyzing the ecological role of fire and its use and/or exclusion, and smoke management.
In addition to the Fire Program Management elements listed above, appropriate GS-9 experience must have included EITHER prescribed fire/fuels management - OR- fire management operations as described below:
Prescribed fire/fuels management: Examples of this type of experience may include:
- Professional forest or range inventory methods and procedures (e.g., Brown's planar intercepts for dead and down fuels; live fuel loading assessments);
- Analysis of fuel loadings and determination of appropriate fuel treatment methods (i.e. prescribed fire, mechanical, chemical, or biological treatments);
- Land use planning and environmental compliance;
- Evaluation of prescribed burn plans or fire management plans to ensure fire containment is possible and identification of appropriate suppression contingencies if fire containment is not obtained.
Fire management operations: Experience in analyzing and/or applying fire management strategies in at least five of the following activities:
- Mobilization and/or dispatch coordination
- Fire prevention and education
- Training
- Logistics
- Equipment development and deployment
- Fire communication systems
- Suppression and preparedness
- Aviation
-OR- EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. You must provide a legible copy of your transcript(s). -OR- 3 academic years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree. You must provide a legible copy of your transcript(s).