Natural Resource Specialist

The Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mining, Land & Water, is recruiting for a Natural Resource Specialist 2 in Fairbanks. This position is open to Alaska Residents only. Please check our residency definition to determine if you qualify. What You Will Be Doing: The duties of this Natural Resource 2 position within the Division of Mining, Land and Water (DMLW), Land Conveyance Section (LCS) include: Collaborating with a team in a dynamic and diverse office setting; Identifying, preparing, and coordinating future land disposal projects; Conducting extensive land status, regulatory, and legal research; Generating innovative and creative solutions to land management problems; and Producing defensible decisions while also maintaining land management records. If you would like to make a difference in our state by accepting these duties, our supportive and motivated team is looking for you! Mission and Values/Culture: The DMLW mission is "To provide for the appropriate use and management of Alaska's state-owned land and water, aiming toward maximum use consistent with the public interest." The LCS mission is “To provide opportunities for land entitlement, preference right, and competitive sale, directly or indirectly benefiting the residents and nonresidents of Alaska, encouraging private land ownership and settlement.” LCS contributes to these missions by fulfilling constitutional and legislative mandates to encourage the settlement of State lands, by creating opportunities for land ownership for the benefit of the public. This position is on the Competitive Land Conveyance Unit, otherwise known as the Project Development Team, whose purpose is to provide the opportunity for private land ownership through various land sale programs. This position helps drive the economy of the State through a variety of unique land sale programs and creates opportunities to get Alaska’s Lands into Alaskans’ Hands. Our culture emphasizes collaboration, technical excellence, and public service, reflected in sound, transparent decision-making and efficient program processes. Benefits of Joining Our Team: This position is housed within the Land Conveyance Section, which offers an extremely supportive, positive, and collaborative work environment. The successful applicant will have access to training and travel opportunities, as well as advancement opportunities within the Division/Department. The work is both intellectually challenging and professionally rewarding, with frequent opportunities to solve complex, real-world problems. Employees work extensively with municipalities, the public, and other agencies to support the responsible development of Alaska's lands, contributing directly to the state's long-term economic health. The Working Environment You Can Expect: This position is located in Fairbanks at the Department of Natural Resources office. Fairbanks is a beautiful Interior Alaska city that serves as the economic and transportation hub of the region, with an international airport and the University of Alaska Fairbanks nearby. The office offers a charming, wooded setting with convenient access to shopping and restaurants, and Fairbanks provides extensive year-round outdoor recreation opportunities- including hiking, wildlife viewing, river trips, winter sports, and world-class aurora viewing - amid striking natural scenery. Core office hours are 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., with a 7.5-hour daily work schedule, Monday through Friday. Though this position is primarily office-based, we offer hybrid teleworking opportunities for all our staff. Work schedules are flexible as long as they fall within the State of Alaska core office hours. Occasional travel for fieldwork is required. Traveling to rural locations may require travel in small aircraft, boats, or off-road vehicles. We are looking for a candidate who possesses the following position-specific competencies: Adaptability: Adjusts planned work by gathering relevant information and applying critical thinking to address multiple demands and competing priorities in a changing environment. Interpersonal Skills: Shows understanding, friendliness, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness to others; develops and maintains effective relationships with others; may include effectively dealing with individuals who are difficult, hostile, or distressed; relates well to people from varied backgrounds and different situations; is sensitive to cultural diversity, race, gender, disabilities, and other individual differences. Influencing/Negotiating: Persuades others; builds consensus through give and take; gains cooperation from others to obtain information and accomplish goals. Competency-Based Minimum Qualifications Instructions This job class uses competency-based minimum qualifications. Competency Description The competency description(s) listed below have been designed to promote a common understanding of the essential elements of the job class. They highlight the more general and customary knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), tasks, and behaviors used to describe the competency. They typically list expectations instead of specific tasks and are only used as parameters and guidelines. A competency's description is not intended to exclusively define every KSA, task, and behavior needed to meet the competency successfully, but rather to provide the manager/agency with a broad reference of options for how an applicant can meet the job expectation. Minimum Qualifications Any combination of education and/or experience that provides the applicant with competencies in: Analytical Thinking/Problem Solving: uses a logical, systematic, sequential approach to address problems or opportunities or manage a situation by drawing on one’s knowledge and experience base and calling on other references and resources as necessary. Decision-Making: Makes sound, well-informed, and objective decisions; perceives the impact and implications of decisions; commits to action, even in uncertain situations, to accomplish organizational goals; causes change. Legal, Government, and Jurisprudence: Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, legal practices and documents, Government regulations, Executive orders, agency rules, Government organization and functions, and the democratic political process. Oral Communication: Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately. Writing: Recognizes or uses correct English grammar, punctuation, and spelling; communicates information (for example, facts, ideas, or messages) in a succinct and organized manner; produces written information, which may include technical material, that is appropriate for the intended audience. equivalent to those typically gained by: Education in a natural resource field (such as forestry, geology, agronomy, and hydrology), public administration, planning, economics, cartography, or a closely related field and/or professional level experience in natural resource management. Definitions: “Competencies” means a combination of interrelated knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that enable a person to act effectively in a job or situation. “Professional experience” means work that is creative, analytical, evaluative, and interpretive; requires a range and depth of specialized knowledge of the profession's principles, concepts, theories, and practices; and is performed with the power or right to decide or act according to one’s own judgment. “Qualified” means is assessed to credibly possess the competencies needed to learn the job in a reasonable period. “Training” and “education” in this guidance are synonyms for the process of acquiring knowledge and skills through instruction. It includes instruction through formal and informal methods (such as classroom, on-line, self-study, and on-the-job), from accredited and unaccredited sources, and long duration (such as a post-secondary degree) and short-duration (such as a seminar) programs. “Typically gained by” means the prevalent, usual method of gaining the competencies expected for entry into the job. Special Note: For purposes of the minimum qualifications, natural resource management is defined as the management of the land, water, mineral, forest, oil, gas, agricultural, archaeological, natural and cultural history, park, and related surface and subsurface resources. Experience or education in natural resource management means involvement in the above resources exclusively. Those with experience or education in managing these resources may specialize in different management functions (for example, planning, regulation, research or title). All of this experience is applicable to the natural resource management definition. Some positions may require education in a particular area of natural resource management or specific technical knowledge and training gained through specialized education or progressively greater responsibilities at the lower levels of the series. Special Notices A Public Notary Commission is preferred but not required in advance (this may be obtained after hire). Requires occasional travel within the State (typically 1 – 3 trips of up to 4 days in length per year), occasionally to remote locations via small aircraft, boats or off-road vehicles. Driver’s License Requirement Applicants must possess a valid driver's license. Proof of licensure will be required prior to reporting to duty. EEO STATEMENT The State of Alaska complies with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Individuals with disabilities who require accommodation, auxiliary aids or services, or alternative communication formats should call View phone number on click.appcast.io or View phone number on click.appcast.io in Juneau or TTY: Alaska Relay 711 or View phone number on click.appcast.io or correspond with the Division of Personnel & Labor Relations at P.O. Box 110201, Juneau, AK 99811-0201. The State of Alaska is an equal opportunity employer. For specific information about this position, please get in touch with the hiring manager at the following: Denise Wiltse Natural Resource Manager 1 Phone: View phone number on click.appcast.io Email: View email address on click.appcast.io #J-18808-Ljbffr