[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 155 (Thursday, August 12, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43978-43979]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-20843]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Information Collection; Request for Comments; Improve Management 
of the Tongass National Forest and Service to Local, Regional, and 
National Customers

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Forest Service announces its intention to establish a new information 
collection. The new collection will provide information that will help 
Forest Service personnel identify and meet the needs of people who use, 
visit, or benefit in other ways from the Tongass National Forest in 
southeast Alaska. Respondents will be chosen from three different 
groups of customers: southeast Alaska residents; southeast Alaska 
visitors; and the general public.

DATES: Comments must be received in writing on or before October 12, 
1999.

ADDRESSES: All comments should be addressed to: Robert F. Schroeder, 
Forestry Sciences Lab, Forest Service, USDA, 2770 Sherwood Lane, Suite 
2A, Juneau, AK 99801.
    Comments also may be submitted via facsimile to (907) 586-7848 or 
by email to rschroeder/[email protected].
    The public may inspect comments received at the Office of the 
Forestry Sciences Lab, Forest Service, USDA, 2770 Sherwood Lane, Suite 
2A, Juneau, Alaska. Visitors are asked to call (907) 586-8811, 
extension 240, to facilitate entrance into the building.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert F. Schroeder, Forestry Sciences 
Lab, at (907) 586-8811, extension 240.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Tongass National Forest encompasses nearly 85 percent of the 
land in southeast Alaska, and activities conducted on the Forest form 
the basis for the regional economy. Commercial fishing, timber 
production, mineral extraction, and the quickly growing tourism 
industry depend on the renewable and non-renewable natural resources of 
this National Forest. The Forest Service completed a revision of the 
Tongass Land Management Plan in 1997 and published a revised Record of 
Decision in the Federal Register on May 11, 1999 (64 FR 25274). The 
Tongass Land Management Plan and Record of Decision will serve as a 
blueprint for how the Forest Service will manage the Tongass National 
Forest over the next 10 to 15 years.
    While revising the Tongass Land Management Plan in 1997, the Forest 
Service identified critical information needs. Some of these 
information needs were associated with the human component of Tongass 
National Forest ecosystems, that is the people and social systems that 
benefit from these ecosystems.
    The collected data, while addressing the human component, will 
provide the Forest Service with a better understanding of how forest 
management practices influence community well-being and social change 
within the southeast Alaska geographic area and will help the agency 
meet the needs of three groups of diverse customers: residents of 
southeast Alaska who are affected by forest management actions on a 
day-to-day basis, people from outside the southeast Alaska geographic 
area who visit the Tongass National Forest, and people who may never 
visit the Tongass National Forest yet believe they benefit because it 
exists.
    The agency will gain a better understanding of the demands the 
public makes on the Tongass National Forest programs and services, how 
well information about agency programs and services are communicated to 
the public, and how well the agency meets the needs and expectations of 
the three identified groups of people.
    Forest Service personnel from the Pacific Northwest Research 
Station Forestry Sciences Lab in Juneau, Alaska, will work in 
cooperation with University of Alaska research staff to design, 
administer, and evaluate these surveys. Interviewers will conduct most 
surveys by telephone. Mail-back questionnaires and face-to-face 
interviews will be used to reach people who do not have telephones.
    People from each of the three identified groups will be asked to 
respond to questions that include their perceptions of how the Tongass 
National Forest is managed by the agency, their preferences for how 
this National Forest should be managed, their perceptions of Tongass 
National Forest ecosystems, their past and planned visits to the 
Tongass National Forest, their use of the forest's resources, their 
vision of the forest of the future, their household and community 
economic dependence on the forest, and their attitudes and values 
concerning timber management.
    The information collection is comprised of three closely related 
surveys: The Tongass Southeast Alaska Resident Survey, The Tongass 
Visitor Survey, and The Tongass National Public Survey. A description 
of each survey form follows.

Description of Information Collection

    The following describes the new information collection:
    Title: The Tongass Southeast Alaska Resident Survey.
    OMB Number: New.
    Expiration Date of Approval: New.
    Type of Request: This is a new information collection requirement 
and has not received approval from the Office of Management and Budget.
    Abstract: The Forest Service conducted a survey in 1979 to assess 
the interaction of the southeast Alaska residents with the Tongass 
National Forest. This survey also included the perceptions these 
residents had of the Tongass as a natural resource. The 1979 survey 
provided the most recent comprehensive information on southeast Alaska 
residents' subsistence and recreational use of the Tongass, their 
attitudes and values concerning the Tongass National Forest, their 
interest in the development of a regional timber economy, and their 
perceptions of Forest Service land management practices. This important 
benchmark

[[Page 43979]]

survey is now 20 years old and may not be an accurate reflection of the 
views, perceptions, and activities of current southeast Alaska 
residents.
    This new information collection will provide current data and 
identify issues that have become important to the southeast Alaska 
residents in the intervening years. Respondents also will be asked 
questions that relate to issues that were not important at the time of 
the 1979 survey. These issues include large scale timber harvesting on 
national forest and private lands, a large increase in tourist use of 
the forest, expansion of tourist use into back-country areas, economic 
restructuring of the area that is moving away from timber, mining, and 
commercial fishing toward tourism and service industries, and an 
increasing resident and visitor population competing for limited fish 
and wildlife resources.
    Forest Service personnel and University of Alaska research staff 
will conduct a random sample survey of southeast Alaska residents, 
primarily through telephone interviews.
    Data gathered in this information collection are not available from 
other sources.
    Estimated Burden per Respondent: 30 minutes.
    Type of Respondents: Individuals from southeast Alaska.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1600.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondents: 1.
    Estimated Total Burden on Respondents: 800 hours.

Description of Information Collection

    The following describes the new information collection:
    Title: The Tongass Visitor Survey.
    OMB Number: New.
    Expiration Date of Approval: New.
    Type of Request: This is a new information collection requirement 
and has not received approval from the Office of Management and Budget.
    Abstract: In 1979, the Forest Service conducted a survey of cruise 
ship passengers visiting southeast Alaska as a companion study to the 
1979 Alaska Public Survey. In the intervening years, tourism has 
increased in southeast Alaska, with approximately 1 million visitors 
expected in 1999.
    The Forest Service is the primary land manager in the southeast 
Alaska area. The tourist industry has become a dominant economic and 
social force within this area, and the tourist experience has become a 
more important concern of the agency's management of the Tongass 
National Forest.
    Visitors are drawn to the scenic attractions on the Tongass 
National Forest that include the tidewater and other glaciers; the 
wilderness, wildlife, and whales; the Native cultures and colorful 
history; and excellent sport fishing opportunities. Cruise ship 
visitors comprise a large majority of the total visitor population to 
southeast Alaska. However, independent travelers are becoming a larger 
segment of the tourist population.
    This information collection will help Forest Service personnel 
evaluate a visitor's interaction with the Tongass National Forest, the 
perceptions visitors have regarding the Forest Service's land 
management practices of these natural resources, the role the Tongass 
National Forest plays in attracting visitors to southeast Alaska, and 
how the agency's land management practices add to or detract from 
visitors' experiences.
    This information collection will be accomplished through interviews 
with tourists visiting southeast Alaska. Forest Service personnel in 
cooperation with university research staff will collect information 
through telephone interviews, mail-back questionnaires, and face-to-
face interviews. Forest Service personnel will compare the data from 
this collection to the study conducted in 1979.
    Data gathered in this information collection are not available from 
other sources.
    Estimated Burden per Respondent: 30 minutes.
    Type of Respondents: Individuals from the main market segments of 
southeast Alaska pleasure visitor populations.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,500.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondents: 1.
    Estimated Total Burden on Respondents: 750 hours.

Description of Information Collection

    The following describes the new information collection:
    Title: Tongass National Public Survey.
    OMB Number: New.
    Expiration Date of Approval: New.
    Type of Request: This is a new information collection requirement 
and has not received approval from the Office of Management and Budget.
    Abstract: The Tongass National Public Survey will provide a method 
of collecting information to learn if people in the United States 
outside Alaska are aware of the existence of the Tongass National 
Forest and, of those who are aware, how they perceive the benefits of 
this Forest. Respondents will be non-Alaskan residents of the United 
States.
    Forest Service personnel will work cooperatively with university 
staff and professional contractors to ask respondents questions that 
include their knowledge about the Tongass National Forest, their past 
or planned visits to the forest, the benefits they believe they obtain 
or receive from this National Forest, and their perceptions of the 
agency's management of this Forest. Researchers will conduct a 
telephone survey of people who live in the United States outside of 
Alaska.
    Data gathered in this information collection are not available from 
other sources.
    Estimated Burden per Respondent: 30 minutes.
    Type of Respondents: Individuals from the national public.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,200.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondents: 1.
    Estimated Total Burden on Respondents: 600 hours.

Comments Are Invited

    The agency invites comments on the following: (a) Whether the 
proposed collection of information is necessary for the stated purposes 
and the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether the information will have practical or scientific utility; (b) 
the accuracy of the estimate of the burden of the proposed collection 
of information, including the validity of the methodology and 
assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden 
of the collection of information on respondents, including the use of 
automated, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.

Use of Comments

    All comments received in response to this notice will be summarized 
and included in the request for Office of Management and Budget 
approval. Those who submit comments should be aware that all comments, 
including names and addresses when provided, are placed in the record 
and are available for public inspection.

    Dated August 4, 1999.
Robert Lewis, Jr.,
Deputy Chief for Research and Development.
[FR Doc. 99-20843 Filed 8-11-99; 8:45 am]
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