Natural Resource Specialist 1/2 (PCN 10-1822)

Full Job Description

The Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mining, Land & Water, is recruiting for a Natural Resource Specialist 1/2 in Anchorage.

This position is open to Alaska Residents only.

Please check our residency definition to determine if you qualify.

What You Will Be Doing:

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is recruiting a Natural Resource Specialist 1 or 2 within the Division of Mining, Land & Water’s Water Resources Section.

The Natural Resource Specialist 1/2 will be responsible for adjudicating water rights and providing administrative assistance to the section such as answering incoming calls, processing mail, reviewing applications; updating databases; analyzing water, environmental, landownership, and land use records; coordinating with stakeholders on projects; applying statutes, regulations, and policies to make decisions; and writing clear and concise technical documents.

You will primarily be working on domestic water rights applications throughout Southcentral Alaska.

Mission and Values/Culture:

The Division of Mining, Land, and Water’s vision is Putting Alaska’s resources to work – now and in the future!

Under this guidance, the Water Management Unit issues water rights to facilitate the maximum use of water resources consistent with the public interest.

We provide for the certainty and security of water rights for present and future generations of Alaskans. Our goal is to manage Alaska’s water resources efficiently and effectively.

We make decisions that balance domestic and commercial water use with conservation needs, and we provide technical assistance that is accurate and responsive to all applicants and permittees.

Benefits of Joining Our Team:

In this position, you will interact with a wide variety of stakeholders and water users. The position will provide the opportunity for training and professional growth.

The Working Environment You Can Expect:

The Natural Resource Specialist 1/2 will work out of our Anchorage (downtown) office and will report to the Water Resources Manager. This is a collaborative and team-oriented work environment.

You will work on a team with five other adjudicators who have extensive experience in water management and will provide you with mentorship, professional development, and training as appropriate.

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

Requirements

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 rather than specific tasks and are used only 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.

Natural Resource Specialist 1 – Starting Salary $26.66

Any combination of education and/or experience that provides the applicant with competencies in:

• Analytical Thinking/Problem-Solving: using a logical, systematic, sequential approach to address problems or opportunities or manage a situation by drawing on one’s knowledge and experience and calling on other references and resources as necessary.
• 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.
• Reading: Understands and interprets written material, including technical material, rules, regulations, instructions, reports, charts, graphs, or tables; applies what is learned from written material to specific situations.
• 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 from an accredited college and/or experience in natural resource management.

Natural Resource Specialist 2 – Starting Salary $30.62

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.
• Progressively responsible - means indicating growth and/or advancement in complexity, difficulty, or level of responsibility.
• Qualified - means 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, online, self-study, and on-the-job), from accredited and unaccredited sources, and programs of long duration (such as a post-secondary degree) and short duration (such as a seminar).

• 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, minerals, forests, oil, gas, agriculture, archaeology, natural and cultural history, parks, and related surface and subsurface resources.

Experience or education in natural resource management means involvement exclusively with the above resources.

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 relevant to the definition of natural resource management.

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.

Qualifications

** Please read the information below carefully. **

At the time of the interview, please ensure that you provide the following materials. Failure to do so may result in loss of consideration. Required documents include:

Application Notice

You can ONLY apply for this position through the Workplace Alaska website or by submitting a paper application. Instructions for applying are available on the Workplace Alaska How to Apply webpage. Your application must be received 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 competence in applying specific 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 yet obtained a degree, please indicate the units you have 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 at foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the minimum qualifications listed above.

If using this education to meet minimum qualification requirements, you must demonstrate that the credentials have been submitted to a private organization specializing in interpreting foreign educational credentials and that such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in standard U.S.

education programs. Alternatively, an accredited U.S.

post-secondary institution must report that the other institution's transcript is given full value or that full value is recognized in relevant subject areas aligned with the post-secondary institution's curricula.

It is your responsibility to provide this 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 whether the minimum qualifications are met.

If they are not, the applicant may not advance to the recruitment interview and selection phase.

Note: Attaching a resume does not substitute for completing the application in full. 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 indicate the union to which you belong at the time of application. Do not complete this question if you are not a current state employee.

Flexible Staffing

This position is flexibly staffed. The level of the job offer will be based on the selected candidate’s credibly possessed and proven competencies. If hired at the lower level, you will be promoted to the higher level after completing the training plan and demonstrating competency in the work.

Please ensure your application (through work history, training, education, licenses, certifications, etc.) supports/demonstrates that you possess the minimum required competencies for the job class.

EEO STATEMENTThe 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 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.

Additional Information

If you choose to be contacted by email, please ensure that your email address is correct on your application and that your spam filter will permit emails from the governmentjobs.com domain.

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 password reset page.

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

Jessie Bruns

Water Resources Manager

Email: jessie.bruns@alaska.gov