Natural Resources Specialist

This position is located in the State office of the State Conservationist, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The purpose of this position is to provide leadership for NRCS at the state level, initiating, facilitating, integrating, coordinating and communicating work activities within a broad based conservation partnership between conservation entities whose missions are to promote regional, state and priority local conservation efforts.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. If education is required or being used to qualify, you must submit a copy of your transcripts.
Basic Requirement: GS-0401:
Degree: biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.; OR
Combination of Education and Experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
In addition to meeting one of the basic requirements listed above, applicants must meet the following Minimum Qualifications Requirement in order to be considered:
Specialized Experience Requirement
For the GS-13 grade level: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in federal service or comparable experience not gained through federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: 1) Provide technical expertise on the design and evaluation of conservation practices; 2)Collaborates with public and private organizations to address natural resource conservation issues at the state and local level to execute mutual conservation objectives;3) Conduct conservation analyses to develop training plans to maintain partnership milestones and budget for short and long term goals; and 4) Coordinate outreach services to market agency services by educating targeted audiences for future partnerships.
Note: There is no education substitution for the GS-13 level.
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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
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. You must meet this requirement by the closing date of this announcement.Education:College Transcript: If qualifying based on education, you must submit a copy of your college transcript with course number and department (i.e., Bio 101, Math 210, etc.), course title, number of credit hours, and grade earned. If a relevant course is not clearly qualifying (e.g., special topic, seminar, research, thesis, obscure or misleading course title, etc.), please submit an official course syllabi and/or detailed course description from the university/college to ensure proper evaluation.
Your education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited toward qualifications. You may verify accreditation by visiting the U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs website. We will verify your education accordingly.
Foreign Education: You must submit verification that education completed in a foreign institution, was recognized by an accreditation body accepted by the U.S. Department of Education. You must include a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. For a list of private organizations that evaluate education, visit the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) website. Your transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.
You may submit an unofficial copy of your transcript at the initial phase of the application process. However, if selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Please refer to the "How to Apply" section for instructions on submitting transcripts.Employment Type: OTHER