San Juan National Forest Outreach Notice

SAN JUAN NATIONAL FOREST (Rangeland Management Specialist) (GS-0454-9) Dolores Ranger District

Notice valid through 11/22/2013

Position Title: Rangeland Management Specialist Organizational Unit: Dolores Ranger District, San Juan National Forest Series: GS-0454 Grade: 9 Duty Location City: Dolores Duty Location State: Colorado Position Type: Permanent Full Time Primary Contact: Heather Musclow Post Notice Through: 11/22/2013 Vacancy Announcement: Anticipated on or around December 21, 2013

THE POSITION

This position serves as Rangeland Management Specialist for the Dolores Ranger District on the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado. The incumbent is supervised by the Supervisory Rangeland Management Specialist with duty station in Dolores, Colorado. The position is permanent full time. Duties include; 1) Prepares allotment management plans, determining proper stocking, rotation schemes, and other appropriate range management applications, 2) Gathers, monitors, analyzes, interprets, and evaluates data to determine if land management, economic, and social goals and objectives identified for the land involved are being met, 3) Provides information and guidance on routine rangeland management issues and projects to coworkers, supervisor, landowners, affected groups and permittees, and 4) Makes recommendations and provides alternatives on the need, feasibility, design and layout of specific rangeland management practices. This position requires extensive travel, often on horseback, across the 600,000 acre District.

MAJOR DUTIES

Assists and participates in development of plans and programs for rangeland management by collecting data for grazing allotment plans and advising management as to logical division of allotments into units, what improvements are needed, and what management practices are needed in order to meet long- term objectives. Maps allotments to delineate vegetative types, document livestock grazing use, and validate capability for grazing use. Through knowledge of allotments, in cooperation with grazing permittees, prepares and executes allotment management plans. Develops plans for the installation of range, soil condition, and trend transects. Installs permanent and paced transects and clipping cages. Obtains required measurements and records information concerning forage density, production and types, vigor, rate of growth, and soil depth, compaction and erosion. Analyzes and evaluates condition and trend data using available guidelines and standards. Determines the upward, downward, or stability of trends of range and soil conditions. Implements allotment management plans by reviewing them on-the-ground with permittees and following-up for compliance. Inspects grazing allotments for forage conditions, livestock distribution, salting, forage production, and use and condition of range improvements. Gathers management data including location of existing and proposed range improvements, location of poisonous and noxious plant encroachments, etc., to be utilized in individual allotment plans. Schedules and performs periodic livestock counts. Checks for livestock trespass and takes initial action when trespass occurs by securing and documenting evidence, and following through to resolution. As necessary, serves as witness in court on such cases. Maintains permitted and actual use records, and documents range improvement conditions in the range management plan and documents observations in the course of range inspections. Responsible for working with permittees in the development of and execution of Livestock Grazing Permits and Annual Operating Instructions including billings, credits and documentation of actual use and maintenance of allotment notes. Responsible for maintaining INFRA, FACTS, GIS and other databases. Work cooperatively with USFS resource specialists, various outside agencies, grazing permittees and the public. Participate in NEPA analyses for allotment planning and range projects. Familiarity with GIS applications such as data gathering, information downloading and map making.

DOLORES RANGER DISTRICT

The District covers over 600,000 acres and supports active range, wildlife, fuels, timber, archaeology, recreation and fire programs. The District contains the headwaters of the Dolores River. McPhee Reservoir (the second largest body of water in Colorado) lies within the District boundary. Approximately one-half of the Lizard Head Wilderness Area lies within the jurisdiction of the Dolores District. The mountainous terrain contains three peaks over 14,000 feet and several more over 13,000 feet. Plant communities range from low elevation (6,000 ft. above sea level) pinion/juniper forests to high elevation (14,000 ft. above sea level) alpine meadows with mixed conifer aspen communities in between.

The Dolores District is divided into 40 livestock grazing allotments and permits 47 livestock grazing operators. Allotment status includes vacant, permitted cattle (13,090 head), horses (78 head) and sheep (1,780 head) for a total of 76,002 Animal Unit Months (AUMs) of annual use. Allotments range in size from a few hundred acres to over 10,000 acres consisting of one to 15 pastures each. The grazing program is considered complex and challenging.

SAN JUAN NATIONAL FOREST

The San Juan National Forest is headquartered in Durango, Colorado. More than 1.9 million acres of Southwest Colorado are managed on the San Juan. The San Juan national Forest is divided into three Ranger Districts: Columbine, Bayfield, and Dolores. The Dolores Ranger District manages about half the rangeland management program on the Forest.

DOLORES, COLORADO

Dolores is located in Montezuma County, in the heart of the Four Corners. Population within the Dolores city limits is approximately 800. The total population in Montezuma County is about 26,000. The town lies at an elevation of 6,900 feet and is located along the Dolores River. Dolores is a full service community. There is one doctor’s office, one grocery store, several restaurants, numerous churches, and a brew pub. There is a K-12 school serving about 500 students.

Other larger, full service communities are Cortez, located 10 miles south of Dolores, Durango, located approximately 50 miles southeast of Dolores, and Farmington, New Mexico, located approximately 85 miles southeast of Dolores. The climate is considered mild with over 300 days of sunshine.

The economy of Dolores and Montezuma County is based primarily on agriculture, CO2 development, tourism and recreation. Real estate prices vary. Housing prices are in the $100,000 to $300,000 range. Rentals are somewhat scarce and for a two to three bedroom house range from $700 to $850 per month. Apartments are from $500 to $700.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

You must possess the Basic Requirements identified below to be considered eligible for this position. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Your application or resume must clearly show that you possess the appropriate experience requirements.

One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-7 level; OR master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related; OR combination of specialized experience and education (only graduate education in excess of 18 semester hours may be used to qualify applicants for this grade level).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

▪ Relocation expenses are authorized for Federal employees. ▪ Forest Service affiliated child/day care facilities are not available ▪ Government housing is not available

Thank you for your interest in our vacancy!

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all of its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's Target Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington DC 20250-9410 or call (800) 795- 3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PROVIDER AND EMPLOYER.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION: The USDA Forest Service provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please contact the point of contact listed on the vacancy announcement. The decision on granting reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.

DOLORES RANGER DISTRICT OUTREACH RESPONSE FORM

Position Identification

Applicant Information

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Name: Date: Address:

Phone: Email address: Are you currently a Federal employee? Yes No

If YES, CURRENT REGION/FOREST/DISTRICT:

CURRENT SERIES AND GRADE:

CURRENT POSITION TITLE:

AGENCY EMPLOYED WITH: ______USFS _____BLM ______OTHER:

TYPE OF APPOINTMENT: ______PERMANENT _____ TEMPORARY ______TERM ______VRA _____ PWD ______OTHER

IF NOT A CURRENT PERMANENT (CAREER OR CAREER CONDITIONAL) EMPLOYEE ARE YOU ELIGIBLE TO BE HIRED UNDER ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SPECIAL AUTHORITIES:

______PERSON WITH DISABILITIES ______VETERANS READJUSTMENT ______DISABLED VETERANS W/30% COMPENSABLE DISABILITY ______VETERANS EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES ACT OF 1998 ______FORMER PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER ______STUDENT CAREER EXPERIENCE PROGRAM ______OTHER ______Thank you for your interest!

Return this form to: San Juan National Forest Service Dolores Ranger District 29211 Hwy 184 Dolores, CO 81323 Attention: Heather Musclow, Supervisory Rangeland Management Specialist Email to: [email protected]