Outdoor recreation planner – Mid Level

Summary

This position is located in the Alaska Regional Office, Anchorage, in the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) Division. The RTCA program supports community-led natural resource conservation and outdoor recreation projectsacross Alaska. Our conservation and recreation planning professionals partner with community groups, nonprofits, tribes, and governments to design trails, parks, conserve and improve access to rivers, protect special places, and create recreation opportunities.

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Duties

As a developmental Outdoor Recreation Planner, GS-0023-11, the position provides technical planning assistance, coordination, and support on cooperative conservation and outdoor recreation planning projects. Duties will include:

• Lead public planning processes related to focus areas such as recreation, conservation, facilities, or organizational development.
• Develop and lead public engagement efforts.
• Communicate complex ideas to a wide range of audiences.
• Develop comprehensive planning agreements and assist with project management.
• Produce an array of documents related to planning projects.

For more information regarding the duties, please contact Zachary Babb, Program Manager, Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA), at zachary_babb@nps.gov

This is a career-ladder position, however, promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position’s supervisor. Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level. Full-performance grade level is GS-12.

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males.
• Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program.
• Any individual who is currently holding, or has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet time-in-grade requirements (must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent in the Federal service). Time-in-grade requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal civilian employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.
• You will be required to wear a uniform and comply with the National Park Service uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided.
• You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work.
• If you are a new employee in the Federal government, you will be required to complete a one-year probationary period.
• You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 5 nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
• You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-07/12/2023-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 for each federal position listed as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of qualifying experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either “full-time” (or “40 hours a week”) or “part-time” with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience.

For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.

To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: community planning with a focus on the development of park, greenspace, conservation, waterway, trail, and multi-use pathways plans; serving as a planning or design specialist creating outdoor recreation and conservation plans that includes convening broad coalitions of stakeholders, resource analysis, mapping, and site and area plans; or collecting, organizing and presenting information about such projects to decision makers and strategic audiences, mediating as needed to build consensus and closely related work supporting both enhanced outdoor recreation and natural resource conservation. You must include hours per week worked.

-OR-

EDUCATION: Successful completion of a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, in outdoor recreation planning or a related field such as sociology, forestry, landscape architecture, economics, biological science, park administration, earth science, natural resource management and conservation, civil engineering, urban planning, or recreation; or, LL.M. if related. You must include transcripts.

-OR-

Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. To calculate your percentage of qualifying graduate education, divide your number of semester hours in excess of 36 semester hours by 18 or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study. To calculate your percentage of experience, divide your months of qualifying specialized experience by 12. Add the two percentages. They must equal 100% to qualify using this option. You must include transcripts and hours worked per week.

When describing the nature of your duties (e.g., your paid or unpaid work or volunteer experience), please be extremely clear, thorough, and specific. We will not make assumptions regarding your experience. Make sure your resume includes detailed information to support your qualifications and answers to the job questionnaire. For additional information on what to include in your resume, click here. For information on what you should leave out of your resume, click here. The following five-minute video may also be helpful for creating and updating your federal resume: click here.

Volunteer Experience: 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.

Education

To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.

Additional information

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.

A Recruitment Incentive May Be Authorized for a newly selected employee when appointed to a permanent, temporary, or term position. A Federal employee who is transferring to the National Park Service from another component, bureau or Federal agency and who does not meet the conditions under 5 CFR 575.102 is not eligible for a recruitment incentive.

A Relocation Incentive May Be Authorized for a Federal employee when the employee must move, as directed by the National Park Service (NPS) either through a management directed reassignment or selection for employment, to a different location at least 50 miles away from the one where his/her position of record held at time of selection is currently located, due to a need of the NPS. A relocation incentive is not the same as a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move and, as such, may be granted in conjunction with one another.

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if identical vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position’s supervisor.

Physical Demands: The work is mostly sedentary. The employee is expected to lead or participate in meetings and field visits in a variety of settings including urban, suburban, rurual, and at times, front and backcountry environments. Travel may be frequent and involve the normal risks and discomforts of automobile, bus, rail, or air transportation travel. Walking, bending, carrying, stooping, and at times hiking, bicycling, and paddling with occasional camping in tents or cabins, and the use of rafts, kayaks, and ATVs. The use of photography, global positioning satellite systems, video equipment and emerging technologies. May be required when visiting and surveying some sites.

Working Conditions: Work is performed primarily in an office environment, meeting room, or similar setting. Travel may be frequent and involves the normal risks and discomforts of the automobile, bus, rail, or air transportation travel. During periods of fieldwork the employee may be exposed to a variety of climates, altitudes, and other environmental factors. Job may require occasional hiking and camping in tents and travel in or on off-road vehicles, and use of rafts, kayaks, and bicycles.

The National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

Travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will not be paid. All travel, transportation, and relocation expenses associated with reporting for duty in this position will be the sole responsibility of the selected employee.

Alaska currently does not have a state income tax.

In the event of an accident while traveling in a government aircraft, the payable benefits of a private life insurance policy may be affected.

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Alaska Regional Office

240 W 5th Avenue

Anchorage, AK 99501

US