Department: Department of the Interior
Location(s): Empire, Michigan
Salary Range: $29.57 - $38.45 Per Hour
Job Summary: This position serves as a technical advisor in forestry and ecological forest management for one or more parks. The forester is responsible for program development and implementation dealing with the management and protection of forest and tree resources. This is a Temporary position not to exceed 1039 hours.
Major Duties:
Qualifications: All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-01/23/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. 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 of qualified specialized experience. BASIC REQUIREMENT To qualify for a GS-0460 Forestry position, you must possess at least one of the following basic requirements: A full four-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree in 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- A combination of education and experience that includes 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 curriculum must have been sufficiently diversified as listed above. MINIMUM REQUIREMENT In addition to the Basic Requirement, you must possess at least one of the following minimum requirements: Experience: At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level in Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include performing forestry and ecology duties for the protection, conservation, and management of natural and/or cultural resources in park areas or similar operations, which involved the application of forest management practices to protect natural resources. You must include hours worked per week. -OR- Education: Successful completion of at least 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree from an accredited college or university in a field directly related to this position. Two years of graduate education is 36 semester hours of 54 quarter hours). You must submit a copy of your transcripts. -OR- Combination: A combination of education and experience as described above that when combined meet 100% of the Minimum Requirement for this position. Only graduate level education in excess of 1 year of graduate-level education may be combined with experience. For example, I have one half year of the specialized experience described above (50% of the experience requirement), and 27 semester hours or 41 quarter hours of directly related graduate level college study in an accredited institution (50% of the qualifying education). You must include transcripts and list hours per week worked. 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.
How to Apply: To apply for this position: You must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. To receive consideration, the complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 01/23/2026. You must provide documentation to support your claim for each eligibility selected. Please review the required documentation listed in the eligibilities language to ensure you submit the appropriate information. Note: You will only be marked eligible for those eligibilities that you selected and provided the appropriate supporting documentation. WE DO NOT ACCEPT HARD-COPY OR E-MAIL APPLICATION PACKAGES. Select Apply. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to login or create an account. Prompted to Start the Application Process by selecting "Start Application." Click here for USAJobs Help with "How to create an application" To PREVIEW the application questionnaire, select the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12862517 Select or add the resume you want to use for this application. Click here on how to build a resume in USAJOBS. Select documents you want included in this application. Review package to acknowledge your documents were reviewed. Select if you want to include your demographic information. After reading and certifying the application is true and submitted in good faith, select "Continue to Agency Site." Follow onscreen prompts and instructions to complete your application. Add the supporting documents by indexing your documents with the dropdown. Upload any missing required documents or optional documents. Review and Submit Application. While logged in, you can check the status of your application by selecting "+" next to the job title for this position. You can review or revise your application at any point during the open period of the announcement. To update an application, you should log into your USAJOBS account and select "+" next to the job title for this position. Select "Update Application" for this job. Note: When you click Update Application, you will be prompted to re-select your documents from USAJOBS. Documents submitted with the first application will no longer be associated with the applicant record. So it is important that you select all documents you want to use in the re-application.
Application Deadline: 2026-01-23