KLAMATH, MENDOCINO, SHASTA-TRINITY AND SIX RIVERS NATIONAL FORESTS
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OUTREACH NOTICE
Located in Yreka, Willows, Redding or Eureka, California
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The above named National Forests have the following vacancy currently
open:
Province Ecologist, GS-408-12
This position is for permanent, fulltime employment. The selected
applicant will choose one of the Supervisor Offices as their duty station.
Description of the duties associated with this position:
The position has overall responsibility for the coordination of the
ecology program for the northern California province. The position
provides and coordinates terrestrial vegetation ecological studies,
investigations, assessments, technology transfer, and general advice and
expertise. The position works closely with the Regional Ecologist, Forest
resource staff, and Forest Service researchers.
Duties include formulation of recommended policy, recommendations of
long-range objectives, ecosystem management, development of investigative
programs, scheduling personnel, and consultation with Forest/Area
personnel on ecological issues on local Forestlands.
The position:
- acts as the principal Province-level expert in matters of
vegetation and fire ecology.
- evaluates the effects of changing ecological, social, and
economic conditions on Province resources and resource demands.
- formulates and recommends long-term and short-term ecological
objectives for the Province.
- participates in formulating Province and Region policy as it
relates to environmental management.
- recommends priorities for ecological investigations within the
Province.
- develops, implements, and stewards inventory methodologies and
databases on the Province's natural resources in order to support
sustainable land and resource management.
acts as a primary Province resource for planning and implementing
vegetation monitoring, including monitoring of vegetation condition and
trend, patterns of vegetation succession, vegetation response to
management, vegetation response to climate change, and vegetation response
to natural disturbance phenomena such as fire, grazing, insects, disease,
and floods.
- provides input and assistance to other monitoring projects
requiring vegetation information.
- carries out inventory and monitoring studies at broad and fine
scales, with the appropriate combination of Geographic Information Systems
technologies, advanced statistical techniques, and field-based sampling
and/or validation. Inventory and monitoring results are reported and
summarized using digital maps, databases, internal reports and
peer-reviewed publications.
- designs, coordinates and conducts complex ecological field
studies to accomplish Province and Regional Program objectives, e.g., to
describe and classify Province vegetation, to develop vegetation
productivity estimates, to identify seral stages, to identify and quantify
site disturbance effects, to predict vegetation response to management, to
define vegetation linkage to wildlife habitat.
- uses the scientific method and sound statistical principles to
design vegetation studies. Utilizes modern statistical analyses to test
hypotheses and to describe vegetation relationships with environmental and
disturbance gradients. Uses modern modeling techniques to predict effects
of both natural and anthropogenic factors, such as disturbance, climate
change and management alternatives, on Province ecosystems.
Area and Community descriptions:
The Klamath National Forest?s Supervisor Office is located in Yreka, the
Siskiyou County Seat, on the Northern California/Oregon border, a full
service community with 7,000 residents. The Forest encompasses about 1.7
million acres of land. Several primary and secondary schools, a high
school, and hospital are located in Yreka. A two year Community College
maintains a satellite campus in Yreka and the main campus in Weed about 30
minutes away. Housing costs vary depending on location, residence size,
and property, averaging $150,000-$200,000 for a typical 3 bedroom home on
a city parcel. There are numerous small full service communities within
commuting distance, including Montague, Fort Jones, Etna, Weed and Mt.
Shasta. Outdoor recreation opportunities are abundant and include
fishing, hunting, camping, boating, whitewater rafting, Nordic and Alpine
skiing, golf, and just about any other outdoor activity imaginable.
The Six Rivers National Forest?s Supervisor's Office is located in Eureka,
which is 3 hours west of Redding and 5-6 hours north of San Francisco
(about 300 miles). The Forest encompasses about 1.1 million acres.
Eureka, with a population of about 28, 000, is located on Humboldt Bay and
enjoys a maritime climate. Eureka and the surrounding communities
provide a full range of community services. There are two colleges
nearby, Humboldt State University in Arcata, and the College of the
Redwoods, a two-year community college south of Eureka. The culture of the
area is rich and diverse with a large number of artists, writers, and
musicians. The Northcoast is strongly oriented to outdoor recreation with
many activities focused on the ocean, numerous river systems, majestic
redwood forests located in adjacent state and national parks, and other
public lands. Rentals for a two bedroom/one bath apartment start around
$800; houses start a bit higher. The housing cost for a three bedroom/two
bath home starts at $225,000.
The Mendocino National Forest straddles the eastern spur of the Coastal
Mountain Range in northwestern California, just two to three hours drive
north of San Francisco and Sacramento. Some 65 miles long and 35 miles
across, the Forest's 913,306 federally owned acres of mountains and
canyons offer a variety of recreational opportunities - camping, hiking,
backpacking, boating, fishing, hunting, nature study, photography, and
off-highway vehicle travel. For further information on the forest, please
see: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/mendocino/. As the Glenn County seat,
Willows is the center of a rich agricultural area situated in the
Sacramento Valley, 90 miles north of Sacramento on Interstate 5, and only
a 45 minute drive to reach the mountains to the west. The population is
approximately 8,000 within 3.0 sq. miles of City limits and, in addition,
there is a large and prosperous fringe area. As is the case in other
valley communities, Willows experiences warm temperatures throughout the
summer months. Winter temperatures rarely fall below freezing.
The Shasta-Trinity National Forest, located in north central California,
is the largest national forest in California and provides some of the
highest quality fish and wildlife habitat in the Pacific Northwest. It is
comprised of 2.1 million acres in the Klamath and South Cascade Mountains
ranging in elevation from 1,000 feet to 14,162 at the summit of Mt.
Shasta. This forest encompasses five wilderness areas, hundreds of
mountain lakes and more than 6,000 miles of streams and rivers. In
addition, there are wild and scenic rivers, national trails and scenic
byways and a National Recreation Area. For further information on the
forest, please see www.fs.fed.us/r5/shastatrinity. The Headquarters for
the Shasta-Trinity National Forest is located in Redding, California, a
full service community of 90,000 people. Redding is located along
Interstate 5 and has a fine variety of medical facilities, schools
including Shasta College, Simpson College, restaurants, retail stores,
museums and housing opportunities. Cultural and outdoor recreational
activities include music, art, fishing, rafting, skiing, hiking, sailing,
swimming and much more. The Redding area has a Mediterranean climate with
mild winters and dry, hot summers. Housing is readily available with an
average 3-bedroom house selling for about $250,000; residential dwellings
in either urban or rural settings can be found within a reasonable commute
distance to the Forest Headquarters Office.
www.cityofredding.com
http://www.reddinganesthesia.com/redding/
http://www.redding.com/
Questions:
The vacancy announcements will appear between June 3, 2009, and July 15,
2009 on the Office of Personnel Management?s USAJOBS website:
http://www.usajobs.opm.gov
The process of applying will take place on the AVUE Digital Services
website: http://www.avuedigitalservices.com
For technical questions regarding the above position, please contact: Dr.
Hugh Safford, Regional Ecologist, USDA-Forest Service, Pacific Southwest
Region; 707-562-8934; [email protected]
For questions relating to duty stations or the National Forests which
comprise the Province, please contact:
Location
Name
E-mail
Phone
Yreka
John Schuyler
[email protected]
530-841-4419
Willows
Art Quintana
[email protected]
530-934-1165
Redding
Alan Olson
[email protected]
530-226-2526
Eureka
Kimberley Johnson
[email protected]
707-441-3630
HUGH D. SAFFORD
Regional Ecologist
USDA Forest Service
Pacific Southwest Region
1323 Club Drive
Vallejo, CA 94592
Phone: 707-562-8934 FAX: 707-562-9050
Cell: 530-219-0898 UC-Davis lab: 530-752-3940
E-mail: [email protected] or
[email protected]
