Department of Agriculture

Supervisory Wildland Firefighter (Fire Management Fuels Planning Specialist)

Bishop, California Full time

Supervisory Wildland Firefighter (Fire Management Fuels Planning Specialist)

Department: Department of Agriculture

Location(s): Bishop, California

Salary Range: $83639 - $108738 Per Year

Job Summary: These positions are located on a USDA Forest Service Unit within Region 5, Pacific Southwest Region. The incumbent serves in a key fire management position in a field fire management organization as a Fire Management Specialist (Fuels Planner). See ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Section for location representative details.

Major Duties:

  • Duties listed are at full performance grade GW-11 level.
  • Reviews complex fuels management plans and environmental documents and determined the effects of fire on natural and cultural resources.
  • Evaluates, and modifies fire and fuels management plans for technical adequacy.
  • Provides analysis for wildland fire risk assessments incorporating wildland/urban interface considerations into fire management plans.
  • Participates in pre and post burn fire effects and fuel treatment monitoring.
  • Performs analysis of fire and its use and/or exclusion for smoke management programs to ensure compliance with air quality standards.
  • Identifies training needs and participated in prescribed fire and fuels management, and wildland fire training for fire suppression.

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. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary. Basic Requirement 0401 Series: Degree: Biological sciences, agriculture, natural resources management, chemistry, or related discipline appropriate to the position being filled. -OR- Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education in the amounts listed below. Specialized Experience Requirement: For the GW-11 Level: You must have one-year specialized experience equivalent to the GW-09 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: Managed and applied wildland fire planning processes, information, and procedures using highly specialized analytical and technical tools; Performed data collection and evaluation of fire hazard risk, fuels, historic fire occurrence, fire effects, climatology and weather; Reviewed and validated data for adequacy, appropriateness, and accuracy; Ensured data used in analyses is timely, accurate, and defensible within established standards; Provided expertise in the development of resource objectives and guidance for implementation of projects and programs; Developed fuels treatment alternatives to support management decisions while adhering to applicable laws, regulations, policies, and guidelines. -OR- 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree (coursework directly related to position being filled such as biological sciences, botany, ecology, horticulture, climate sciences, natural resource management). -OR- An appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond what is required for a master's degree, i.e., more than 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D.). 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. FIREFIGHTER RETIREMENT COVERAGE: This is a secondary firefighter position under 5 USC 8336 (CSRS) and 8412(d) (FERS). Prior wildland firefighting experience is required. There is no age limit for entry into secondary positions. Firefighter retirement coverage of the incumbent depends upon his or her individual work history. To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

How to Apply: Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process. Please read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Mountain Time Zone, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be complete and submitted no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement to be entered into the system prior to its closing. Resumes must not exceed two pages. This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis; contact the Agency Contact to request this. To begin, click "Apply" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents. Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc.

Application Deadline: 2026-01-22