Outdoor Recreation Planner

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.

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