Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team

Staff/Personnel

Outreach Effort for Candidates to Apply for Research Ecologist Position

Outreach Notice [.pdf] | Outreach Form [.pdf][.doc] | To be considered, applicants must be U.S. citizens.

The Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team (FERA) of the Pacific Northwest Research Station is planning to advertise a Research Ecologist position, GS-0401, grade 11/12, salary $59,978 - $71,889.

This full time, permanent position is located  in the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, Seattle, Washington. It is a Research Ecologist position with the Fire and Environmental Resource Applications Team (FERA) of the Pacific Northwest Research Station, Managing Disturbance Regimes RD&A Program (MDR).  The incumbent reports to David L. Peterson, Research Biologist and Team Leader.  The incumbent serves as a member of the research team responsible for research, development, and communication of scientific information on fire ecology, fuels, and related areas of fire science.

Job Duties

• Develop a program of research that addresses current scientific and management issues in fire ecology including the effects of wildland fire and prescribed fire on natural resources, fire regimes in the United States, management effects on fire regimes, and fire effects in a range of ecosystems ranging from wet to dry forests.
• Develop a program of research that addresses current scientific and management issues in fuels science in the United States including techniques for fuel reduction at small scales, planning approaches for fuel reduction at large scales, fuel succession over time, and management of natural fuels and harvest-created fuels.
• Participate in a range of activities related to technical transfer of scientific information, teaching, and outreach including fire training for federal resource managers, teaching in collaboration with university faculty and students, and direct contact with managers on national forests and other public lands.
• Generate substantial external funding to supplement operating funds and to develop innovative applications in the science and management of fire and fuels on public lands.

This position requires travel away from duty station (up to 30% of the time) in the United States and other countries.

FOREST SERVICE EMPLOYEES ON THE WORKFORCE REDUCTION PLACEMENT SYSTEM LIST WILL RECEIVE PRIORITY CONSIDERATION AND CTAP/ICTAP CANDIDATES WILL RECEIVE THE APPROPRIATE CONSIDERATION.

Interested applicants, or those desiring further information, contact Ellen Eberhardt, Technical Information Specialist, (541-750-7481; eeberhardt@fs.fed.us), or complete the attached form and return by June 1, 2009.

Area Information

ABOUT THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION AND PACIFIC WILDLAND FIRE SCIENCES LABORATORY

The PNW Research Station is one of seven research units in the USDA Forest Service.  The USDA Forest Service conducts the most extensive and productive program of integrated forestry research in the world.  The scientific information produced by the station has application on public, private, and tribal lands in the Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Oregon and Washington) and elsewhere in the United States and other parts of the world.  The Station’s programs reflect the changing character of the questions that science is being asked to help answer.  Rather than relatively isolated in a disciplinary and geographic sense, issues and questions are geographically broad and multifunctional.

Duty Station Specifics

The Fire Lab is located in the Fremont neighborhood, 2 miles west of the University of Washington.  It is centrally located in Seattle, just 15 minutes north of downtown.  All amenities are nearby, such as medical facilities, banks and shopping.  Public transportation is readily available.  Apartment rentals start at $782.00 in the metro area, and $1,400 in the City of Seattle.  The median price for purchasing a home is $309,000 in the metro area and $454,000 in the City of Seattle. Utilities are priced in the average price range.  No government housing available.

Community Information

The City of Seattle is located in the northwest part of the state of Washington, and is a major urban area on Puget Sound.  The population is around 600,000 in the city, and 3.5 million in the metropolitan area. Seattle has a year-round mild climate (rarely <40F or >75F, with an average annual rainfall of 37 inches). Seattle is known for its numerous museums, galleries, theaters, music venues and pro sports teams.  Seattle's public parkland covers 5,000 acres including wetlands, formal gardens, urban walking trails, and country paths. Seattle is also the main hub for a variety of outdoor activities such as biking, boating, camping, fishing, hiking, hunting, mountaineering, river rafting, and snow skiing.

The City of Seattle is the largest city in the four-county metropolitan area.  The region's other major metropolitan cities are Bellevue to the east, Tacoma to the south, Everett to the north, and Bremerton to the west.  They are surrounded by a number of growing cities that include Redmond, Kent, Renton, Bothell, Issaquah, and Kirkland. Seattle is built on seven hills between the Puget Sound and freshwater lakes to its east.  The altitude ranges from 0 to 500 feet above sea level.

Seattle is a full service community in regards to various and numerous businesses, banking, restaurants, coffee shops, denominations of churches, schools, colleges, and universities, theaters, golf courses, shopping malls, international airport, and more.  The Seattle Metro area has a large medical community, with a wide variety of specialists and a variety of clinics and hospitals.

Ethnic diversity in the area continues to increase. In King County, for example, 2007 Census Bureau estimates show that the Hispanic population increased nearly 38 percent while the Asian population increased more than 25 percent.

To be considered, applicants must be U.S. citizens.
Thank you for your interest in this position

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service prohibits discrimination in all 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 alternate means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotapes, 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 Ave, SW, Washington, DC  20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202)720-6382 (TDD).  USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

U.S. Forest Service - PNW- FERA
Last Modified: Wednesday, 30 September 2009 at 19:49:06 EDT