The Klamath National Forest is currently seeking a candidate for a permanent full-time Forester (Genetics), GS-0460-5/7/9 position located at the Klamath National Forest Headquarters in Yreka, California. The purpose of this Outreach Notice is to inform prospective applicants of this upcoming opportunity and make decisions on how this position will be filled. Be sure to check the boxes for the hiring authorities that you plan to apply under.
This position may be filled through the Society of American Foresters (SAF) Convention hiring event that will be held November 2 – 5, 2016 in Madison, Wisconsin. Jobs will be posted on USAJOBS approximately 1-2 weeks before the convention.
To express interest in this position and receive notification when the Vacancy Announcement opens, please complete the attached voluntary Outreach Interest Form and return to Dan Blessing at dblessing@fs.fed.us by close of business on 9/30/2016
**Although not mandatory, responses from Outreach Notices help us determine how to advertise the position and which candidates will be considered. If interested, your response is greatly appreciated.**
DUTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS POSITION:
As a trainee, performs duties which are designed to orient the employee in the application of academic theories and basic forestry principles to a variety of work situations. Assignments may be similar to those assigned to nonprofessional employees, but such tasks are primarily for training purposes, or to relieve higher grade foresters of routine work.
Receives formal and on-the-job instructions and training designed to familiarize the incumbent with functions and operations of the organization, and to provide experience in the practical application of basic forestry principles, theories, methods, techniques and practices with emphasis on silviculture and genetic resource management.
Assists higher grade foresters, or works as a team member, in accomplishing selected portions of projects which include all or most of the following:
Manages the unit’s Tree Improvement Areas. This includes responsibility for writing silvicultural prescriptions/environmental assessment reports to determine the management strategies; development of fertilization and irrigation regimes to meet project objectives; monitoring for insect and disease damage, determine treatment options, and carry out treatments, collection and grafting of scion to rootstock and out-planting; collect soil or foliar samples for nutrient analysis and interpret results; managing seed orchard trees to produce cone crops, monitoring cone development, collecting and shipping cones; installation of early selection trails; monitor early selection trials, record growth and other exact measurements. A number of different species are involved requiring different kinds of schemes to accomplish the same overall objectives.
Responsible for managing the unit’s long term field tests. This involves installation which includes assuring the proper site preparation, trees are planted in an accurate grid and mapped, and each tree is correctly accounted for; preparing a management plan that will assure the intent of the test; monitoring for damaging agents and determining the need for control methods; monitoring and recording growth and other exact measurements; monitoring insects and diseases or other genetically controlled damaging agents and determining if resistance information can be gathered.
Collects, maintains and manages data gathered on test trees, orchard trees, and cone crops. Administers and oversees the tree improvement area and facility development contracts. Contracts include; cone collection, early selection trials, and tree planting. Reviews, recommends, and initiates development activities at the tree improvement sites.
For additional information, please contact: Dan Blessing at 530-841-4521 and dblessing@fs.fed.us
ABOUT THE FOREST:
The Klamath National Forest covers an area of 1,700,000 acres located in Siskiyou County in northern California and Jackson County in southern Oregon. The Forest is divided into two sections separated by the Shasta Valley and the Interstate 5 highway corridor. In the mountains to the west, the terrain is steep and rugged while the east side has the relatively gentler, rolling terrain of volcanic origin. With elevations ranging from 450 to 8,900 feet above sea level, the Forest is one of America’s most biologically diverse regions, situated in a transition region between the hotter and drier areas of the south and the colder and wetter locale of the north.
This central position of the Klamath in relation to the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, Coast Range and the Great Basin has fostered complex climatic patterns and led to an unparalleled diversity of plant life found nowhere else in California. More species of conifers live near or in the Klamath’s Marble Mountain and Russian Wilderness Areas than anywhere else on earth. An astounding 17 conifer species co-exist within one square mile! The Forest is also home to one plant that lives nowhere else on earth, the Siskiyou Mariposa Lily.
The program of work for the Forest is centered on the restoration of fire adapted ecosystems. We have an active and strongly integrated vegetation management and fuels program that works to protect communities, infrastructure and critical wildlife and fisheries habitat. We work with local communities, Fire Safe Councils, and interested groups and individuals in developing projects using Healthy Forest Restoration Act authorities. In 2010, the Forest was honored to be recognized as having treated the greatest amount of hazardous fuels reduction acres in the Pacific Southwest Region.
The appropriate management of naturally occurring wildfire across the Forest is also an important program component. The Klamath is known as a leader in using wildfire to benefit landscape conditions as well as having a highly skilled and experienced fire suppression workforce.
The Forest includes all or part of five wilderness areas: Marble Mountain, Russian, Trinity Alps, Red Buttes and Siskiyou. Trailheads are numerous and hikes range from easy to arduous. There are 200 miles of river system for rafting and 152 miles of wild and scenic rivers in the Forest. The Forest has 28 campgrounds, and world-class hiking, fishing and wildlife viewing. With the Klamath, Salmon, and Scott Rivers meandering from one end of the Forest to the other, recreationists have found a playground that offers virtually everything (except crowds) to the outdoor enthusiast.
The management of area streams and rivers, and range, botanical, heritage, cultural and mineral resources rounds out the active and interesting programs included on the Klamath.