Summary Reclamation is seeking a career professional looking for an opportunity to capitalize on their expertise as a Archeologist. Make a difference in the West by assisting in meeting increasing water demands while protecting the environment. Duty Location: Durango, Colorado; Grand Junction, Colorado Responsibilities This position is located within the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Upper Colorado Basin Region, Western Colorado Area Office, Technical Services Division, DURANGO,COLORADO or GRAND JUNCTION,COLORADO. At the full performance level (GS-11) the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following: Implement procedures to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) legislation, executive orders, regulations, and Reclamation policy. Conduct field investigations, prepare reports, and coordinate results as necessary to carry out all aspects of the Area Office's program involving archeology, Traditional Cultural Properties, history, museum, and cultural resources management. Prepare and evaluate nominations to and determinations of eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places for archeological and historic sites, districts, buildings, and Traditional Cultural Properties. Consult with State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPO), Native American tribes, and public to coordinate cultural resource investigations, Reclamation projects and undertakings, Traditional Cultural Property studies, and recommending issuance of archeological permits under the Archeological Resources Protection Act. Prepare Requests for Proposal, Scopes of Work, and Government cost estimates. Prepare budgets for all cultural resource studies in conjunction with both Reclamation construction projects and ongoing resource management of existing lands. Maintain administrative records, GIS and map files, and management information on archeological and historical sites, districts, buildings, objects, and Traditional Cultural Properties which are, or may come, under Reclamation jurisdiction. Physical Demands: The work is a mixture of field and office work. The former involves working in potentially dangerous situations on canals, rivers, or large reservoirs as well as conducting resource inventories of project areas in places which are sometimes remote and have rough terrain and poor access. Other work is often accomplished by participation at meetings, field reviews, and consultations held in an office setting. Considerable travel may be necessary. Office work requires extensive use of computers and is mostly sedentary. Work Environment: Field work may involve exposure to adverse conditions and temperature extremes around canals, streams, and lakes. Office work is performed in a comfortable, ventilated, and well lighted environment. Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen or U.S. National. Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program. You must be suitable for federal employment, determined by a background investigation. Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males You must maintain a valid State Driver's License at all times as the position requires operation of government vehicles on government and public roads. Failure to maintain a valid State Driver's License at all times will result in removal from the position. You may be required to wear the Reclamation issued uniform while working. You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 15 nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes. Continue to the Additional Information section for the Condition of Employment for Probationary Period. Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other Bureaus/Offices within the Department of Interior (DOI) who have vacancies with the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in the same geographic location(s). Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration. You may choose to have your information shared with other agencies when applying for this position. If an agency requests a copy of a certificate you are on, you will be notified. Qualifications All qualifications must be met by the 06/26/2026 of this announcement. BASIC REQUIREMENT - Archeologist: Applicants must possess the basic requirement for an Archeologist. If qualifying based on education, transcripts MUST be submitted and include your name, school name, credit hours, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. We cannot determine eligibility without this information. (A copy of your official transcripts will be required before entrance on duty, if selected). The Basic Requirement may be met in one of the following ways (see below). Education: 1. Degree that included 3 semester hours each in the following course areas: History of archeology. Archeology of a major geographical area such as North America or Africa. Regional archeology, archeological cultures, or sites in a specific part or portion of a major geographical area to acquire or develop a foundation for regional specialization for professional development. Theory and methods of archeology. Methods include, but are not limited to, typology, classification, sampling, cultural evolution, diffusion, dating, and analytical techniques. Archeological field school, to provide a basic understanding of theoretical and practical approaches to research design implementation, field preservation techniques, and report preparation by participation in actual field work. -AND- Six semester hours of related course work in: geography, geology, or cultural geography; history, historiography, or historical archeology; environmental studies; scientific writing (nonfiction English composition); and/or surveying; -AND- Archeological field school. 2. Related Curriculum: degree in anthropology (with emphasis on ethnology, physical anthropology, or scientific linguistics), history, American studies, or a related discipline may be accepted as satisfying in full the educational requirements, provided the curriculum supplied academic course work sufficiently similar to the requirements in A.1 (including archeological field school). -OR- Combination of Education and Experience: College-level education or training that provided knowledge equivalent to that described in A above, plus appropriate technical experience or additional education. -OR- Experience: Four years of archeological work experience that demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archeology. The work experience must have included archeology field experience, which may include that gained in an archeological field school. Field experience should have included a combination of professional experience in archeological survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, and preparation of written materials. Applicants with such field experience should, after additional experience under the direction of a higher grade archeologist, be able to demonstrate the ability to be a crew chief, directing the work of others at a single location as a part of a larger archeological project. In addition to meeting the basic requirements listed above for this position, applicants must also meet the minimum qualifications outlined below: Specialized Experience: To qualify at the GS-11 level, you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the difficulty and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is experience that equipped you with the particular competencies needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Examples of specialized experience may include: surveying; compiling and interpreting archeological and historical data in the southwestern United States; writing technical reports of work performed; conducting field or cultural investigations; utilizing geographic information system (GIS) to assess archeological or cultural resources. -OR- Education: Successful completion of 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. To be qualifying, graduate study must have been in archeology, anthropology, or other closely related field. The total education offered to meet this provision must have provided you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform the work of this position. To receive credit, you should describe how their specific course work, research projects, dissertation, theses, etc. demonstrate the ability to perform the duties of this position (Eighteen semester hours or 27 quarter hours or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study is considered to be equal to one full year of graduate education). PLEASE NOTE: If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. -OR- Combination of Education and Experience: Successful completion of an equivalent combination of education and graduate experience as described above. For example, an applicant with 6 months of appropriate experience equivalent to GS-9 (50 percent of the experience requirement for GS-11) and 27 semester hours of appropriate graduate education (50 percent of the education requirement for GS-11, in excess of that required for GS-9) would be qualified for a GS-11 position (assuming that there is no evidence that the attended college or university requires more than 18 semester hours as equivalent to a year of graduate study). PLEASE NOTE: If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. To calculate experience, take the number of months of full-time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total combination of education and experience must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. 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. If qualifying based on experience, 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. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience. Education To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work. If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. Additional Information Condition of Employment For Probationary Period: As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated. 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. Reclamation has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework only during an emergency or natural disaster. A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected. The display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay. This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if identical vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate. If otherwise eligible and qualified, you may be offered a recruitment or relocation incentive. The decision to offer an incentive will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed. For information, visit: Recruitment Incentive or Relocation Incentive. Current agency employees may be eligible to receive a referral bonus for recruitment of this position. For information visit: Referral Bonus Awards. Permanent Change of Station (PCS) expenses or first-post-of-duty relocation expenses are authorized, as applicable, with the exception of the Guaranteed Home Sale Provision. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), signed into law December 2017, suspends the moving expense deduction and the exclusion from income of qualified employer reimbursements of moving expenses that was allowed under previous tax laws. Employer reimbursements for moving costs are now generally taxed at the same rate as ordinary income. If otherwise eligible and qualified, you may be offered a Student Loan Repayment Benefit (SLRB). The decision to offer an SLRB will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed. For information, visit: SLRB Program. If otherwise eligible and qualified, you may request consideration for a Superior Qualifications Appointment. For information, visit: OPM Fact Sheet.
