Forester

You will serve as a Forester with Bureau of Land Management. Information about Sacramento and the surrounding areas can be found here. This position is open to the public under announcement CBUD-26-13067212-FUL-LC. You must apply to each announcement separately if you wish to be considered under both recruitment methods. You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work. First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the step 1 rate.

Major duties
The major duties below are at the full performance level. Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following: Interpret field examination data and make preliminary treatment recommendations for harvest, post-harvest, and timber stand improvement projects. Provide input into forest development budget plans. Design, prepare, and administer forest development projects including site preparation, seedling protection, precommercial thinning and ferritization, vegetation management and stand conversion. Use the latest developments in methods for cruise, scale, and appraisal techniques; subjects them to evaluation and analysis; and their adoption or rejection. Perform on-the-ground technical evaluations of forest and woodland products sale program activities in all assigned districts, field offices and/or zones to determine compliance with established policies, standards, and procedures, and program objectives and priorities. Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

Qualifications
All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement – 10/19/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F. 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 periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. 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. Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications: Basic Educational Requirements: In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following: A. Degree: 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. You must submit transcripts. OR B. Combination of education and experience: 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 requirements for diversification of the 24 semester hours in forestry are the same as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. To qualify for this position at the GS-7 grade level: Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-5 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: Assisted with the development or implementation of forest management plans such as timber sale planning, logging system, reforestation, timber stand improvement, or landscape forestry. Prepared/Analyzed logging and harvest plans, silvicultural treatments, or timber sale contracts to ensure compliance. Interacted with various groups of people to investigate, exchange, or report information related to forest programs. You must include hours worked per week. OR Education: Successful completion of at least 1 full year of graduate level education. This education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. You must submit transcripts. OR Combination of education and experience as listed above. 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 requirements for diversification of the 24 semester hours in forestry are the same as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. You must include hours worked per week and transcripts. OR Superior Academic Achievement (SAA): Successfully completed a bachelor's degree in a directly related field AND meet one of the following: (1) Class Standing: rank in the upper 3rd of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, based on the completed courses; OR (2) Grade-Point Average (GPA): earn a GPA of (a) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) based on 4 years of education, or based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum -or- (b) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field, or the required courses completed during the final two years. Note: GPA will be rounded to the one decimal place, for example, 2.95 = 3.0, 2.94 = 2.9; OR (3) Membership in a National Scholastic Honor Society. To qualify for this position at the GS-9 grade level: Specialized Experience Requirement: you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-7 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: Prepared and/or implemented timber sale or silvicultural service contracts. Executed long range forest management plans such as logging systems, road layout, harvesting, and tree improvement. Developed forest management plans such as: forest inventory analysis, environmental assessments, or forest history reports. Prepared data, briefings, or trainings to explain and exchange forest management information. You must include hours worked per week. OR Education: Have 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree that included a major field of study or specific course requirements generally as stated in the basic requirements. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. You must include transcripts. OR Combination of education and experience. 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 requirements for diversification of the 24 semester hours in forestry are the same as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. You must submit 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.

How to apply
Do not submit photographs with your application package. Do not upload Adobe portfolio documents. Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the 10/19/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement to receive consideration. Note: You will only be marked eligible for those eligibilities that you selected and provided the appropriate supporting documentation. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. To PREVIEW the application questionnaire, select the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13067211 Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other Bureaus/Offices within the Department of the Interior (DOI) who have vacancies within the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in the same geographic location(s), including within the same metro/commuting area. Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status, visit https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to/application/status.