
Outdoor Recreation Planner
Salt Lake City, UTFull-time$75–97K/yrPosted today
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Job overview
The Outdoor Recreation Planner develops and coordinates planning projects and documents for the National Park Service. The role creates outdoor recreation and natural resource plans, supports collaborative planning and community engagement, analyzes land uses and recreation needs, and develops work plans to guide teams and track progress. The appointment is a temporary promotion or detail for up to one year, with possible extension up to five years.
Skills & qualifications
Skills
Qualifications
Full job description
Summary
You will serve as a Outdoor Recreation Planner with National Park Service. You will perform a wide range of duties related to planning, and to coordinate the development and completion of a number of planning projects and planning documents. This is a temporary promotion and/or detail not to exceed 1-year and can be extended up to 5 years. This temporary promotion may be made permanent without further competition.
Duties
Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following: Develop outdoor recreation and natural resource/conservation plans at a variety of scales for parks, natural areas, green spaces, trails, pathways and waterway (rivers, lakes, coastal bays, shoreline) access addressing community needs focused on connections to the outdoors and natural resource management. Coordinate collaborative planning through organizing and supporting teams and facilitating diverse community and partner engagement. Analyze data and information related to outdoor recreation and natural resource planning and management including: analysis of land uses, natural and community resources, outdoor recreation needs and trends and natural resource/resiliency considerations. Develop and implement strategies for engaging stakeholders and diverse community interests in outdoor recreation and natural resource conservation planning using a variety of tools and venues, both face to face and virtually. Develop work plans for collaborative planning clarifying visions and roles, defining goals and tasks, setting deadlines, monitoring progress, and adapting plans to promote outcomes and accountability. Requirements
Must be a U.S. Citizen or National. Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication. Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service. Direct Deposit participation required. Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/. You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority. Probationary Period: As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period to evaluate your fitness and whether your continuation of employment advances the public interest. This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. 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. Qualifications
All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 11/16/2026-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. Specialized Experience: To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level: For Temporary Promotions: Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: leading and delivering multi partner planning for outdoor recreation or natural resource conservation, site planning for outdoor recreation and resiliency, engagement in resource analysis, comprehensive mapping (inventory, documentation and analysis); and leading collaborative teams in outdoor recreation and conservation/natural resource planning. Engage with agencies, groups, and stakeholders as a lead planner to produce outdoor recreation (park, trail, river) plans and strategies. Provide planning expertise for natural areas and green spaces at various scales (community, interconnected, large landscape). Collect, organize (write and produce), and present information about such projects to decision makers and general audiences. . You must include hours per week worked. -OR- Education: Successful completion of a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, in outdoor recreation planning or a related field such as sociology, forestry, landscape architecture, economics, biological science, park administration, earth science, natural resource management and conservation, civil engineering, urban planning, or recreation; or, LL.M. if related. You must include transcripts. -OR- Combination of education and experience as listed above. To combine education and experience, first take divide your number of semester hours in excess of 36 semester hours by 18 or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study. Then take the number of months of full-time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include hours per week and 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. For Details:There are no qualification requirements for a detail assignment however, employees must meet any positive education/licensure requirements and have experience which demonstrates the ability to perform the major duties of the position. Detail assignments do not include additional or reduced compensation, including locality pay, but benefit from the experience gained, and the opportunity to broaden their knowledge and skills. Time spent on a detail is not creditable for time-in-grade purposes.
Education
You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include your name, school name, grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, and date the degree was conferred, if applicable. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not qualified for the position. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work. Foreign Education: 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.S. education programs. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit: https://www.ed.gov/about/initiatives/international-affairs/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications How You Will Be Evaluated
Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g. resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessment(s) required for this position. To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. Your resume must not exceed 2 pages. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed. You will be assessed in the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics): Attention to Detail Customer Service Decision Making Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Learning Reading Comprehension Reasoning Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires successful completion of the USA Hire Assessment, if required. All qualified non-competitive applicants and the best-qualified Merit Promotion applicants will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration or your score may be lowered. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration. Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position. Current or former displaced Federal employees who are surplus, displaced, or involuntarily separated have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP). To be considered under CTAP, you must be well-qualified, score at least 85 (i.e., meet the minimum qualification requirements, including any selective placement factors; education, and experience requirements), and be able to perform the duties of the position upon entry. Other Information
Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement. Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments. (https://appsupport-usastaffing.opm.gov/hc/en-us/sections/45063131363475-Reasonable-Accommodation-Information) Physical Demands: Most work is sedentary, but incumbent is expected to travel when necessary and work in outdoor settings, which require hiking and enduring various, occasionally extreme, environmental conditions. Situations may arise with considerable time constraints and long hours. Work Environment: Work is performed primarily in an office environment, meeting room, or similar setting. Travel may be frequent and involves the normal risks and discomforts of automobile, bus, rail, or air transportation travel. During periods of fieldwork the employee may be exposed to a variety of climates, altitudes, and other environmental factors.
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