[Federal Register: March 8, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 45)]
[Notices]
[Page 10553-10554]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr08mr07-90]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
60-Day Notice of Intention To Request Clearance of Collection of
Information; Opportunity for Public Comment
AGENCY: Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: Under provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 5
CFR part 1320, Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements, the National
Park Service (NPS) invites public comments on an extension of a
currently approved collection of information (OMB No. 1024-0236).
DATES: Public comments on the proposed Information Collection Request
(ICR) will be accepted on or before May 7, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Send Comments To: Dr. John G. Dennis, Natural Resources
(Room 1160), NPS, 1201 Eye Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005; Phone:
202/513-7174; fax: 202/371-2131; e-mail
WASO_NRSS_researchcoll@nps.gov. Also, please send a copy of your comments to
Leonard Stowe, Information Collection Clearance Officer, NPS, 1849 C
St., NW (2605), Washington, DC 20240, or by e-mail at
Leonard_Stowe@nps.gov. All responses to this notice will be summarized and
included in the request for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
approval. All comments will become a matter of public record.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bill Commins, NPS, Natural Resources
(Room 25), 1201 Eye St., NW., Washington, DC 20005. Phone 202/513-7166;
Fax: 202/317-2131; E-mail: bill_commins@nps.gov. You may obtain
additional information about the application and annual reporting forms
and existing guidance and explanatory material from the NPS Research
Permit and Reporting System Web site at: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://science.nature.nps.gov/research.
You are entitled to a copy of the entire ICR package free of
charge.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Research Permit and Reporting System Collection of
Information Package: Application for a Scientific Research and
Collecting Permit: Application for a Science Education Permit;
Investigator's Annual Report.
Bureau Form Number(s): Application for a Scientific Research and
Collecting Permit: 10-741a; Application for a Science Education Permit:
10-741b; Investigator's Annual Report: 10-226.
OMB Number: 1024-0236.
Expiration Date: 6/30/2007.
Type of Request: Revision of a previously approved information
collection.
Description of Need: The currently approved information collection
responds to the statutory requirement that NPS preserve park resources
and regulate the use of units of the National park System. The
information currently collected identifies: (1) Names and business
contact information for people who seek a permit to conduct natural or
social science research and collection activities in individual units
of the National Park System, (2) what activities they wish to conduct,
(3) where they wish to conduct the activities, (4) whether or not they
wish to collect specimens as part of the activities they propose to
conduct, and (5) for applicants who have received a permit, annual
summaries of the actual results of their permitted activities. NPS uses
the collected information for managing the use and preservation of park
resources and for reporting the status of permitted research and
collecting activities. NPS is considering proposing to develop the
Internet software for, and implement, the Application for a Science
Education Permit that OMB reviewed and approved in 2004. NPS is
proposing to leave the current Application for a Scientific Research
and Collecting Permit and the Investigator's Annual Report collection
of information forms largely unchanged unless responses to this request
for comments identify areas in the two collections of information that
warrant change.
In response to suggestions for changes identified prior to and
during the review of this information collection package in 2004, NPS
added entries to obtain more specific information about project scope
and status, including expected total time span of the project, specific
identification of project personnel who will be working in the park,
status of processing of collected specimens, planned schedules for the
field work phases of the project, and expected end date for the
project. NPS also split the Application into two versions to improve
the ability to use the Internet to process applications for both
scientific research and collecting and scientific education activities,
but has not yet modified the Internet software to implement the science
education component. NPS changed the scientific research and collecting
application to improve the clarity of information provided to, and
obtained from, respondents who request use of a non-NPS repository
regarding the duty the respondents have for securing acceptance by the
proposed non-NPS repository of becoming responsible for collections
authorized in the permit. NPS changed the Investigator's Annual Report
to reduce the complexity of the form by assigning responsibility to
NPS, not the respondent, for determining the appropriate activity code
for each permitted project. NPS also designed the Investigator's Annual
Report to accommodate in a single form progress reports from both
science research and collecting and science education permittees.
At this time, NPS is not proposing to make any changes to any of
these three collections of information. NPS is considering updating
some of the guidance documents and specifically is considering creating
a separate guidance document regarding science education activities.
NPS specifically requests comments on the clarity and utility of the
guidance documents and on desired content of a separate guidance
document for the science education activities. NPS also is considering
whether to create a new component of this collection of information
package specifically to offer users of the Internet site an opportunity
to provide comments online regarding the usability of the Internet site
and working relationships with parks in which permittees conduct
science activities.
Based on growth in use of this collection of information system
over the past six years, NPS is proposing to request an increase in the
burden hour budget. At the onset of the system, NPS estimated that
there would be approximately 3,000 applications and 3,000
Investigator's Annual Reports submitted each year. The average numbers
reported for 2004 and 2005 permitted activities, which are the latest
two years with complete information for numbers of active permits and
submitted Investigator's Annual Reports, show 4,472 studies per year
under permit, 5,046 active permits per year, and 3,657 Investigator's
Annual Reports. Experience with using this system shows that, for a
variety of reasons related to both applicants and parks, a number of
studies apply for and obtain more than one permit per year for the same
study while other studies receive permits that are active for more than
one year at a time. These situations
[[Page 10554]]
lead to the result that there are more active permits in a year than
there are active studies.
Comments are invited on: (1) The practical utility of the
information being gathered; (2) the validity and accuracy of the
reporting burden hour estimate; (3) ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways
to minimize the burden to respondents, including use of automated
information collection techniques or other forms of information
technology. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail
address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you
should be aware that your entire comment--including your personal
identifying information--may be made public available at any time.
While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal
identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we
will be able to do so.
Automated Data Collection: The information collection and status
reporting system for which the renewal of three components of a single
collection of information package is being proposed in this notice
currently is available to applicants, permittees, and the public
through the NPS Research Permit and Reporting System Web site (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://science.nature.nps.gov/research
). In addition to considering the
renewal of the three information collection forms without changes, NPS
is considering what development of modifications to the Internet site,
if any, are needed to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of this
automation system to facilitate the permit application and progress
reporting process. If NPS were to adopt a component by which users
could provide comments to NPS, NPS would make that component available
online through the Internet site.
Description of Respondents: Representatives of: Academic and other
research institutions, Federal, state, or local agencies, research
businesses; other scientific parties seeking an NPS research and
collecting or science education permit; permittees who submit the
annual report of accomplishment that is one of the permit conditions.
Estimated Average Number of Respondents: NPS estimates the average
number of respondents to be 6,500 by 2010.
Estimated Average Number of Responses: NPS estimates an average
number of 13,000 responses by 2010.
Estimated Average Burden Hours Per Two-Part Response: 1,625 hours
per year total for responding to both parts of this collection of
information was the estimate in 2004. NPS does not expect this burden
hour estimate to change, even if the proposed opportunity for permit
system users to offer comments to NPS is adopted, because returning
users are expected to be able to spend less time on the two existing
parts and the goal for the collection of information for the comments
is to make that collection of information short and focused.
Frequency of Response: 2 times per respondent per year--once to
submit the application and once to submit the Investigator's Annual
Report. A small number of respondents is expected to submit a third
response, should the proposed collection of information for comments be
added to the system.
Estimated Annual Reporting Burden: NPS estimates the estimated
annual reporting burden will be 10,560 hours by the year 2010.
Dated: February 7, 2007.
Leonard E. Stowe,
NPS, Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 07-1079 Filed 3-7-07; 8:45 am]
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