Environmental Protection Specialist

Summary

These positions are located in Grand Canyon National Park, in the Planning, Environment, and Projects Division.

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Duties

Major Duties:

• This position will manage all aspects of compliance processes and environmental documentation for the park, including assisting in and/or leading (depending on grade level) preparation, internal review, and public involvement (as needed), for assigned environmental compliance documents. The incumbent reviews and evaluates projects for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and associated environmental laws, regulations, polices, and guidelines under the NEPA umbrella.
• Basic knowledge of and experience with the NEPA and other associated environmental laws, regulations, policies, and guidelines under the NEPA umbrella; ensures proposals and environmental documents are technically adequate and are compliance with said laws, regulations, policies, and guidance.
• Possesses excellent written and oral communication skills in order to communicate complex issues. Responsible for preparing high quality, well-written environmental compliance documents, such as Categorical Exclusions (CEs) and/or Environmental Assessments (EAs).
• Evaluates and analyzes proposals and associated materials, such as scopes of work, project descriptions, engineering drawings, and specifications, for potential environmental effects and ways to minimize or avoid environmental effects. As lead NEPA specialist, is a key team member who actively participates in project planning and development processes (meetings, workshops, design reviews, value analyses, etc.) in order to determine appropriate compliance pathways (NEPA, Section 106, Section 7, etc.), and evaluate, analyze, and minimize or avoid potential environmental effects.
• Coordinates with project leads/managers and interdisciplinary team to keep them apprised of environmental concerns and makes suggestions to minimize or avoid environmental effects. Facilitates interdisciplinary team reviews and coordinates with park resource specialists to obtain their input on environmental analyses/effects.
• Acts as NEPA compliance liaison to other park Divisions.
  
  
  

Additional Duties for GS-11:

• Identify information and data needs (e.g., resource evaluations, surveys, etc.) in order to evaluate environmental effects, inform project and NEPA schedules, and complete compliance processes.
• Leads the public involvement process under NEPA, including preparing public involvement materials (maps, FAQs, flyers, presentations etc.) and gives presentations and answers questions at public meetings.
• Leads NEPA efforts on projects of increasing complexity and may develop programmatic NEPA documents.
• May lead or co-lead preparation of Environmental Assessments, Environmental Impact Statements, Minimum Requirement Analyses, consultation materials (e.g. Endangered Species Act, National Preservation Act, etc.), permitting materials (e.g., Section 404), and/or other environmental documents that conform to the pertinent environmental laws, regulations, policies, and guidelines.
• Participates as a key member in project planning and development to identify NEPA and consultation pathways, and analyzes potential environmental effects and uses sound logic and reasoning to make recommendations to minimize or avoid environmental affects.
  
  
  

Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

South Rim Area Information:

This position is stationed at Grand Canyon National Park at the South Rim located in Northern Arizona. The South Rim is located approximately 60 miles north of Williams and 82 miles Northwest of Flagstaff at an elevation of 7,000 feet. Temperatures range from approximately 90 degrees in the summer to 0 degrees in the winter. Annual precipitation averages around 13 inches.

Grand Canyon Village has schools K-12, a daycare center, post office, general store, churches, a recreation center with gym, a public library, a clinic with resident physicians, and several restaurants. The park community consists of some 2,500 people, including employees of the NPS and concessionaires and their family members. There are often employment opportunities for family members in the park and surrounding areas. The park community is small enough that many employees choose to walk or bike from their homes to work. Complete shopping, educational, medical, and professional services are available in Williams and Flagstaff. Flagstaff has a population of about 75,000 and has multiple K-12 public and private schools, Northern Arizona University, and diverse community, medical and other support services. Recreational opportunities include hiking, backpacking, fishing, cross-country and downhill skiing, and golfing in nearby communities.

• Flagstaff Area Information and South Rim Housing information located in Qualifications section.
  
  
  

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males.
• Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment, if required.
• Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program.
• Any individual who is currently holding, or has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet time-in-grade requirements (must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent in the Federal service); with few exceptions as outlined in 5 CFR 300.603(b). Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal civilian employees applying for reinstatement who have had a break in service of less than one year, as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointments. Time-in-grade does not apply to new excepted service appointments. Time-in-grade requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.
• You will be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties; a valid driver's license is required.
• You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work.
• If you are a new employee or supervisor in the Federal government, you will be required to complete a one-year probationary period.
• You may be required to travel overnight away from home. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
• You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
  
  
  

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-09/30/2024-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience.

For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.

To qualify for this position at the GS-09 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: gathering, managing, and analyzing information for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance relating to natural, cultural, and/or other environmental resources; interpreting NEPA and associated laws, regulations, policies, and guidelines pertaining to protecting natural, cultural, and/or other environmental resources and applying them to proposals; assisting with drafting, editing, revising, and/or issuing environmental compliance documents, such as Categorical Exclusions or Environmental Assessments, in accordance with NEPA; drafting, editing, or revising other written materials pertaining to environmental resources, analysis, or NEPA compliance, including technical documents/reports and/or briefing statements; and facilitating NEPA reviews with project managers and interdisciplinary teams. You must include hours per week worked.

-OR-

EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least a Masters 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. Creditable education may include degrees such as public policy, natural resources, cultural resources, planning, or have coursework associated with NEPA/environmental work, etc. You must include transcripts.

-OR-

Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. To combine education and experience, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of completed graduate education beyond the first year by 18 (or 27 for quarter hours). Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include transcripts.

To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: leading NEPA efforts on projects of increasing complexity; independently completing Categorical Exclusions as lead NEPA specialist and ensuring Categorical Exclusions are legally sufficient; assisting with preparation of or, preferably, authoring sections of, or entire Environmental Assessments and ensuring EAs are legally sufficient; reviewing and interpreting project proposals, such as scopes of work, project descriptions, engineering drawings, and specifications, to analyze and minimize or avoid environmental effects; and participating as a key member in project planning and development to keep project managers apprised of environmental concerns and works with team members as project planning and development progresses to minimize or avoid environmental effects. You must include hours per week worked.

-OR-

EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree OR 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree OR LL.M., if related. Creditable education may include degrees such as public policy, natural resources, cultural resources, planning, or have coursework associated with NEPA/environmental work, etc. You must include transcripts.

-OR-

Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. To combine education and experience, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of completed graduate education beyond 2 years by 18 (or 27 for quarter hours). Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include transcripts.

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.

South Rim Housing: Permanent and Term employees with a Full Performance Level (FPL) of a GS-09 or WG-8 and above will be provided the option of accepting assigned housing, participating in the normal bid system, or accepting shared housing. Permanent and Term employees with an FPL of GS-08 or WG-7 and below may be provided the option of participating in the normal bid system or accepting shared housing. Any employee assigned to shared housing may continue to bid into non-shared housing.

Flagstaff Area Information:

This position is stationed at the Grand Canyon National Park offices in Flagstaff, Arizona. Flagstaff is located about 70 miles from the park and has a population of about 75,000. Flagstaff has an elevation of 7,000 ft. and includes multiple K-12 public and private schools, Northern Arizona University, a diverse community, medical and other support services. The rental and home markets in Flagstaff is relatively expensive and limited. Summers in Flagstaff are warm with temperatures in the 80's and frequent monsoon thunderstorms. Winters are cold, with low temperatures near zero and snow averaging around 90 inches. Recreational opportunities in both areas cross all four seasons in environments ranging from low deserts to high mountains and include hiking, backpacking, fishing, cross-country and downhill skiing, and golfing in nearby communities. Government housing is not available.

Education

To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.

Additional information

A Recruitment Incentive May Be Authorized for a newly selected employee when appointed to a permanent, temporary, or term position. A Federal employee who is transferring to the National Park Service from another component, bureau or Federal agency and who does not meet the conditions under 5 CFR 575.102 is not eligible for a recruitment incentive.

A Relocation Incentive May Be Authorized for a Federal employee when the employee must move, as directed by the National Park Service (NPS) either through a management directed reassignment or selection for employment, to a different location at least 50 miles away from the one where his/her position of record held at time of selection is currently located, due to a need of the NPS. A relocation incentive is not the same as a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move and, as such, may be granted in conjunction with one another.

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if identical vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position's supervisor.

Physical Demands: Work is primarily sedentary in an office environment, but also requires some physical exertion such as long periods of standing; walking over rough, uneven or rocky surfaces; recurring bending, crouching, stooping, stretching, reaching, or similar activities

Working Conditions: The majority of the work is performed in an office setting with some travel to attend meetings, conferences and workshops, or for field inspections. The work can involve moderate risks, discomforts, and unpleasantness such as exposure to dust and cold or hot and dry weather extremes and flights in small aircraft, including helicopters.

The National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended, that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=Reasonable_Accommodations_for_USA_Hire

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Grand Canyon National Park

PO Box 129

20 South Entrance Road

Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

US