[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 146 (Thursday, July 30, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40731-40732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-20369]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Submission of Study Package to the Office of Management 
and Budget; Opportunity for Public Comment

AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The National Park Service (NPS) Social Science Program is 
submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for 
clearance of a three year program of collections of information that 
would conduct surveys of the public regarding park visitors and visitor 
services. The NPS is publishing this notice to inform

[[Page 40732]]

the public of this proposed three-year program and to request comments 
on the program and the proposed approach.
    Under provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 5 CFR 
part 1320, Reporting and Record Keeping Requirements, the National Park 
Service is soliciting comments on: (a) Whether the collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the NPS, including whether the information will have practical utility; 
(b) the accuracy of the NPS estimate of the burden of the collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) how to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other forms of 
information technology.
    Sixty-day Notice of Intention to Request Clearance of Collection of 
Information--Opportunity for Public Comment was published in the 
Federal Register on September 30, 1997, Vol. 63 No. 189 pgs. 51133-
51143. Several comments were received from the public as a result of 
the Federal Register Notice and have been integrated into this final 
proposal.

DATES: Public Comments will be accepted on or before August 31, 1998.
    Send comments to: Office of Management and Budget, Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, ATTN: Desk Officer for the Interior 
Department, Washington, DC 20503. Also send a copy of these comments to 
Mr. Jared D. Ficker, Social Science Specialist, National Park Service, 
Social Science Program, 1849 C Street NW, MS 3127, Washington, DC 
20240.
    The OMB has up to 60 days to approve or disapprove the information 
collection but may respond after 30 days. Therefore, to ensure maximum 
consideration, OMB should receive public comments on or before August 
31, 1998.
    All comments will become a matter of public record. Copies of the 
proposal requirement can be obtained from Mr. Jared D. Ficker, Social 
Science Specialist, National Park Service, Social Science Program, 
voice 202-208-6330, fax 202-208-4620, e-mail <[email protected]>. 
In addition, a complete copy of the proposal is available at the NPS 
Social Science Program website at http://www.nps.gov/socialscience/
tech/survey.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Programmatic Approval for NPS Visitor Surveys.
    Bureau Form Number: None.
    OMB Number: To be assigned.
    Expiration Date of Approval: To be assigned.
    Type of Request: Request for new clearance.
    Description of Need: NPS needs to sponsor information collection 
surveys of the public to provide to park managers information for 
improving the quality and utility to the public of park programs. NPS 
finds the current process by which it secures OMB approval of proposed 
collections of information can be improved with respect to securing 
public comment and can be made more efficient for the federal 
government through reducing current levels of personnel and funding 
necessary for preparing and reviewing the proposed collections of 
information. NPS believes it has developed an alternative approach for 
processing proposed collections of information that will be both more 
effective and more efficient. This proposal is designed to test the 
alternative approach using one subset of NPS information collection 
surveys for a 3-year test period.
    Automated Data Collection: At the present time, there is no 
automated way to gather this information, since the information 
gathering process involves asking visitors to evaluate services and 
facilities that they used during their park visits. The intrusion on 
individual visitors is minimized by rigorously designing visitor 
surveys to maximize the ability of the surveys to use small samples of 
visitors to represent large populations of visitors and by coordinating 
a program of surveys to maximize the ability of new surveys to build on 
the findings of prior surveys.
    Description of Respondents: A sample of visitors to parks or of 
people who have relationships to parks.
    Estimated Average Number of Respondents: The proposal does not 
identify the number of respondents because that number will differ from 
individual survey to individual survey, depending on the purpose and 
design of each individual survey.
    Estimated average number of responses: The proposal does not 
identify the average number of responses because that number will 
differ from individual survey to individual survey, depending on the 
purpose and design of each individual survey. For most surveys, each 
respondent will be asked to respond only one time, so in those cases 
the number of responses will be the same as the number of respondents.
    Estimated average burden hours per response: The proposal does not 
identify the average burden hours per response because that number will 
differ from individual survey to individual survey, depending on the 
purpose and design of each individual survey.
    Frequency of response: Most individual surveys will request only 1 
response per respondent.
    Estimated annual reporting burden: The proposal identifies the 
requested total number of burden hours annually for all of the surveys 
to be conducted under its auspices to be 10,000 burden hours per year. 
The total annual burden per survey for most surveys conducted under the 
auspices of this proposal would be within the range of 100 to 300 
hours.
Diane M. Cooke,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, WASO Administrative Program 
Center, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 98-20369 Filed 7-29-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-M