Natural Resource Specialist 2 (PCN 10-N22018)

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:  

This position is located within the Northern Regional Office (NRO), and housed in the Division of Mining, Land, and Water (DMLW), within the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). This position is a long-term, non-permanent position, but potentially has multi-year funding, and offers the opportunity to obtain experience for future permanent positions. The Long-Term Non-Permanent (LTNP) employee will assist in adjudication of applications to use state land, primarily easements, and to provide support for senior level adjudicators and managers. This position will focus on the Division backlog project. For the Permits and Easements Team in the Northern Region, the backlog consists mostly of legacy easement applications.

Mission and Values/Culture:  

The DNR mission is to “develop, conserve and maximize the use of Alaska's natural resources consistent with the public interest”. 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 work environment is focused on understanding and learning. Staff support one another, and we work towards collaborative and creative solutions to work challenges.

Benefits of Joining Our Team:  

The DMLW team offers meaningful work in a friendly and supportive environment, a hybrid telework model, flexible work schedules, autonomy, opportunities for career advancement, and extensive land management training. We also have 12 paid holidays per year, paid vacation days, consistent weekday schedule, as well as health insurance and retirement benefits.

The Working Environment You Can Expect:  
The Fairbanks office is set in a charming and wooded campus along the Chena River, and near many amenities. As a Natural Resource Specialist 2, there is a good balance between individual and collaborative efforts to ensure decisions are well considered. Opportunities for occasional, short duration fieldwork are frequently available, including travel along the Parks, Steese, Richardson, Elliott, Dalton, and Alaska Highway corridors, but can more rarely also include travel to remote locations via small plane, ATV, snowmachine, or boat.
 
 We are looking for a candidate who possesses the following position-specific competencies.  

• Written Communication: Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience.
• Administrative Law: Knowledge of state and Federal administrative laws, including procedures, regulations, guidelines, and precedents related to case preparation and settlements.
• Customer Service: Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.

Click here to learn more about working for the Division of Mining, Land & Water.

Competency-Based Minimum Qualifications Instructions
This job class uses competency-based minimum qualifications. Please ensure your application (through work history, volunteer experience (duties summary), training, education, licenses, certifications, etc.) supports how you have gained the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors (competencies) and that you possess the minimum required competencies for the job class. 
 
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.

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.

** Please read the below information carefully. **

 At the time of the interview, please ensure that you provide the following materials: 

• A copy of your last two performance appraisals (if you are a current or former State of Alaska employee), or two letters or evaluations from former supervisors.
• A list of three professional references with current contact information, one of which must be from a current or former supervisor. 
• A professional writing sample you authored, e.g. decisional document, technical paper, or report.

Application Notice

You can ONLY apply for this position through the Workplace Alaska website or a hardcopy application. Instructions on how to apply with Workplace Alaska may be found on the Workplace Alaska “How to Apply" page. Your application must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. Alaska Standard Time on the closing date.   

Supplemental Questions

For your application to be evaluated, you must answer the Supplemental Questions.  The State of Alaska (SOA) uses four proficiency levels to measure and describe an applicant’s level of competence in applying certain behaviors, knowledge, skills, and abilities to accomplish a specific task. The four proficiency levels are Mastery, Fluency, Literacy, and Discovery. You must rate your proficiency level for each competency listed in the supplemental questions.

Education

If post-secondary education is required to meet the minimum qualifications, you must fill out the Education section of the application. If you have not obtained a degree, please indicate the units completed. Copies of transcripts are required to verify educational credentials if used to meet the minimum qualifications for a position. 

Special Instructions for Foreign Education

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the minimum qualifications listed above. If utilizing this education, you must show that the education credentials have been submitted to a private organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials and that such education has been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs; or an accredited U.S. post-secondary institution reports the other institution as one whose transcript is given full value, or full value is given in subject areas applicable to the curricula at the post-secondary institution. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. 

Work Experience

If using work experience not already documented in your application, also provide the employer’s name, job title, employment dates, and whether full or part-time. Applications will be reviewed to determine whether the responses are supported and minimum qualifications are clearly met. If they are not, the applicant may not advance to the recruitment interview and selection phase. 

Note: Attaching a resume is not an alternative to filling out the application entirely. Noting, "see resume" or any similar response on any portion of your application may lead to a determination that your application is incomplete and removal from consideration for this job posting.  

Bargaining Unit

If you are a current state employee, please mark the union you are a member of at the time of application. Do not complete this question if you are not a current state employee. 

EEO STATEMENT
The State of Alaska complies with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Individuals with disabilities who require accommodation, auxiliary aides or services, or alternative communication formats should call 1-800-587-0430 or (907) 465-4095 in Juneau or TTY: Alaska Relay 711 or 1-800-770-8973 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.

Please be sure to check your junk folder for any messages that may be sent to you about this recruitment. 

Workplace Alaska Application Questions & Assistance

Questions regarding application submission or system operation errors should be directed to the Workplace Alaska hotline at 1-800-587-0430 (toll-free) or (907) 465-4095 if you are in the Juneau area. Requests for information may also be emailed to recruitment.services@alaska.gov.

For assistance with your password, please visit the reset password page.

For specific information about this position, please get in touch with the hiring manager at the following:

Austin (AJ) Michels

Natural Resource Manager 1

Phone: 907-451-2710

Email: austin.michels@alaska.gov

Salary : $31