; and (4) the term wildland firefighter means any temporary, seasonal, or permanent position at the Department of Agriculture or the Department of the Interior, or Tribal Firefighters, that maintains group, emergency incident management, or fire qualifications, as established annually by the Standards for Wildland Fire Position Qualifications published by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, and primarily engages in or supports wildland fire management activities, including forestry and rangeland technicians and positions concerning aviation, engineering heavy equipment operations, dispatch, training, development and technology, or fire and fuels management. (b) (1) Notwithstanding section 5332, a wildland firefighter is entitled to a special base rate of pay at grades 1 through 15 of the General Schedule, as prescribed by this subsection. This special base rate shall replace the otherwise applicable General Schedule base rate and shall be basic pay for all purposes, including the purpose of computing a locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 or 5304a. Such special base rates shall be computed as described in paragraphs (2) and (3) and adjusted at the time of adjustments in the General Schedule. (2) The minimum rate of basic pay for any wildland firefighter in levels 1 through 5 of the General Schedule shall— (A) be not less than the rate of pay for step 3 of GS–6, as adjusted by the pay locality designated as Rest of U.S. under section 5304