Biologist - Part/Full-time

You will serve as a Biologist that offers an exciting opportunity to directly support the conservation and recovery of threatened and endangered fish species in the Upper Colorado River Basin. As part of the Grand Junction Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, you will contribute to the

Successful candidates will possess a firm grounding in fisheries science, excellent interpersonal communication abilities, and the initiative, integrity, and adaptability needed to support a highly collaborative hatchery mission focused on recovering listed fishes.

At the full performance level (GS-11), the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following:

Responsible for directing and accomplishing daily hatchery operational activities to accommodate hatchery requests for a variety of warm-water species.

Assist with spawning and propagation of warm-water and conservation species.

Identify, manage, and treat fish disease outbreaks, including the approved use of investigational new animal drugs, to ensure timely and effective fish health protection.

Maintain water quality parameters to maximize production efficiency.

Operational activities such as administrative procedures and reports, general hatchery administration, and maintenance activities.

Plans, schedules, and conduct projects throughout the hatchery facilities, grounds, and equipment.

Performs duties involving most phases of hatchery management, including planning extensive incubation schedules, developing ponds production schedules, daily pond information updating on computer software, and creating annual fish culture reports for a sixty-four pond facility.

Computing and recording conversion rates and other dietary/growth information, observing and reporting results of treatments, preparing fish for shipment or distribution, and being state certified for the application of pesticides and chemicals (training provided if applicant does not have certification).

Supervise and conduct hatchery effluent water quality monitoring to correlate with State Pollution Discharge Permit. Maintain water treatment system for the hatchery and residences.

Perform routine hatchery operations required for safe and efficient operation, including operation of hatchery water systems, pumps, valves, feeders, alarms and other equipment.

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

The work involves a substantial amount of field work. When engaged in field activities, the work is at times strenuous, requiring exertion such as walking over wet, rough, uneven, or rocky surfaces; Travel to remote study sites may be required via boats, small aircraft, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, and/or on foot. Extended periods of camping in tents or cabins in remote field camps may occur. The work requires both office and outdoor work. The office is adequately lighted, heated and ventilated. Frequent travel by various means of surface and air transportation is required to attend meetings and to conduct field work. A variety of temperature and weather extremes may be encountered while in the field. The incumbent may be subject to large numbers of biting insects and may be required to work in close proximity to large animals such as deer, elk, bear and moose. He/she may need to carry a firearm for personal protection from wildlife. In addition, the incumbent may be exposed to work situations involving hazardous substances, and must comply with Service health and safety policies, including appropriate safety clothing and equipment. Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.

Direct Deposit participation required.

You may be required to work evenings and holidays.

You will be required to work weekend rotating schedules and will be on call and required to respond. Paid overtime or compensatory time can be earned for working the weekend rotation.

You may be required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority.

You must be at least 18 years of age or older to operate government vehicles.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated.

your performance and conduct;

Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated.

Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

To receive credit for experience, 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.

Degree: Successfully completed a full four-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree that included a major field of study in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to this position. Combination of education and experience: course work equivalent to a major (i.e., 24 semester hours) in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or a discipline closely related to biology; PLUS appropriate experience or additional course work. The quality of the combination must demonstrate that you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform the work of the position and is comparable to that normally acquired through the completion of a full four-year course of study with a major as described above.

-Specialized Experience Requirement: you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience which includes, but is not limited to the following: carry out fish culture or aquatic animal husbandry activities including spawning, egg collection and fertilization, incubation, grading, inventory, fish health monitoring, transportation, stocking, and other routine hatchery production activities; assist in the propagation or recovery activities for threatened, endangered or other species of conservation concern by maintaining breeding populations, monitoring environmental conditions, collecting biological data, and implementing established biological protocols; collect biological data and ensure data accuracy; maintain electronic databases of fisheries data; Successful completion of at least one year (defined as the number of hours that the school attended determined to represent one full year of full-time study; if unavailable, then 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours will be considered as satisfying the requirement) of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree in a field of study directly related to the position such as in biological sciences, agriculture, botany, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to this position. Successfully completed a bachelor's degree with Superior Academic Achievement in a related field of study. Superior Academic Achievement is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade-point average, or (3) honor society membership. Class standing -- Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses. or 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 in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum. For example, an applicant with 6 months of appropriate GS-5 equivalent specialized experience (50% of the specialized experience requirement for the GS-7) and 9 semester hours of appropriate graduate level education (50% of the education requirement for the GS-7) would qualify an applicant for this position. Specialized Experience Requirement: you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience which includes, but is not limited to the following: manage assigned culture units (ponds, tanks, raceways) including feeding regimes, water quality monitoring, and routine adjustments; perform fish health observations, administer basic treatments, and document results accurately; maintain biological, water quality, fish health, and growth datasets with precision; prepare routine summaries or updates for project leads and apply findings to assigned culture units; and collect, organize, analyze, and summarize biological, production, environmental, and water quality data. Successful completion of at least two years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or equivalent graduate degree in an accredited educational institution concentrated in a field that is directly related to the work of this position, such as in biological sciences, agriculture, botany, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to this position. For example, applicants with 6 months of appropriate experience equivalent to the GS-7 (50% of the experience requirement), and 27 semester hours (50 percent of the education requirement to qualify for GS-9, in excess of that required for GS-7) would be qualifying for the GS-9 grade level (assuming one year of graduate education is defined by the college or university as 18 semester hours). You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.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., 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 may be required to occasionally travel overnight away from home up to 2 nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.

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.

If otherwise eligible and qualified, you may be offered a recruitment or relocation incentive. All Department of Interior (DOI) employees, their spouses, and minor children may not acquire or retain any claim, permit, lease, small tract entry, and other rights granted by the Department in Federal lands, with limited exceptions. The duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval following agency policy.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent.