PDF versionJob Summary
Explore a new career with the BLM - where our people are our greatest natural resource. For additional information about the BLM, please visit Our website. For information about the Oregon State Office, visit our website. For information about the Portland area, visit Travel Portland.NOTE: This is an interdisciplinary position and may be filled in any of the advertised series. The series of the position will be determined by the qualifications of the selectee.
Major Duties
This position is located in the Forestry Section at the Bureau of Land Management Oregon/Washington State Office. In Oregon and Washington, BLM manages approximately 3.5 million acres of forests and woodlands. BLM forest management seeks to achieve a wide range of objectives on these lands, including sustained-yield timber production, forest health and fire resilience restoration, fish and wildlife habitat enhancement, and water resource protection.
This position serves as the subject matter expert for applying statistical methods to forest management questions for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oregon/Washington (OR/WA) State Office. The incumbent will 1) develop statistical sampling procedures for inventorying and monitoring forest resources, 2) process data from these inventories and other sources of information, 3) analyze these data to answer forest management questions, 4) model forest dynamics, 5) provide statistical advice to BLM staff, and 6) communicate complex statistical concepts and results to a variety of audiences. The incumbent will also occasionally provide statistical assistance for non-forest resources managed by the BLM. The position requires expert knowledge of statistical methods, the ability to process data and fit statistical models using software programs such as R, and knowledge of natural resource issues.
Physical Demands/Work Environment: The incumbent will typically work in an office setting where walking, standing, bending and carrying of light items is required. Occasional travel to the field where physical activity involving walking long distances, bending or climbing over rough, steep and/or rocky terrain could occur. Rain, cold, heat and dangers such as falling tree limbs and trees may be encountered.
Qualifications
Basic Qualifications:GS-401: Degree: biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. OR a combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.GS-460: Degree: forestry; or a related subject-matter field that included a total of at least 30 semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least 24 semester hours of course work were in forestry. The curriculum must have been sufficiently diversified to include courses in each of the following areas: -Management of Renewable Resources -- study of the science and art of managing renewable resources to attain desired results. Examples of creditable courses in this area include silviculture, forest management operations, timber management, wildland fire science or fire management, utilization of forest resources, forest regulation, recreational land management, watershed management, and wildlife or range habitat management. - Forest Biology -- study of the classification, distribution, characteristics, and identification of forest vegetation, and the interrelationships of living organisms to the forest environment. Examples of creditable courses in this area include dendrology, forest ecology, silvics, forest genetics, wood structure and properties, forest soils, forest entomology, and forest pathology. - Forest Resource Measurements and Inventory -- sampling, inventory, measurement, and analysis techniques as applied to a variety of forest resources. Examples of creditable courses include forest biometrics, forest mensuration, forest valuation, statistical analysis of forest resource data, renewable natural resources inventories and analysis, and photogrammetry or remote sensing OR Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in forestry, or at least 30 semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least 24 semester hours were in forestry. The requirements for diversification of the 24 semester hours in forestry are the same as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.GS-1530: Degree: that included 15 semester hours in statistics (or in mathematics and statistics, provided at least 6 semester hours were in statistics), and 9 additional semester hours in one or more of the following: physical or biological sciences, medicine, education, or engineering; or in the social sciences including demography, history, economics, social welfare, geography, international relations, social or cultural anthropology, health sociology, political science, public administration, psychology, etc. Credit toward meeting statistical course requirements should be given for courses in which 50 percent of the course content appears to be statistical methods, e.g., courses that included studies in research methods in psychology or economics such as tests and measurements or business cycles, or courses in methods of processing mass statistical data such as tabulating methods or electronic data processing OR Combination of education and experience -- courses as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. The experience should have included a full range of professional statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying statistical techniques such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, and tests of significance.In addition to meeting the basic requirements above, you must also meet the following Specialized Experience Requirements:In order to be rated as qualified for this position, we must be able to determine that you meet the specialized experience requirement - please be sure to include this information in your resume. To be creditable, this experience must have been equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the next lower grade (GS-11) of the position to be filled.Examples: Using a professional knowledge of a wide range of mathematical and statistical methods to conduct statistical analysis of vegetative or other natural resource data.
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.
You must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of the announcement.
Pay Range
$81,875.00 - $106,442.00