[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 234 (Friday, December 5, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68110-68111]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-29988]


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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: NPS requests comments on extending and modifying two existing 
NPS information collection instruments that are processed by the 
existing, Internet-based Research Permit and Reporting System. One 
information collection instrument, the Application for a Scientific 
Research and Collecting Permit, is used by applicants to apply to parks 
for scientific research and collecting permits for natural or social 
science activities that require permits. The other instrument, the 
Investigator's Annual Report, is used by permittees to submit their 
required annual progress reports. NPS will use the information you 
submit in response to this notice to assist its decision-making 
regarding whether or not to request extension of, and to make 
modifications to, the two collections of information administered 
through the existing Research Permit and Reporting System. Once NPS 
develops and adopts any modifications that may be appropriate, NPS 
currently expects to submit a request for an extension of the existing, 
but slightly modified, collection of information package to OMB with a 
request that OMB approve the package and assign an OMB clearance number 
to the two collection of information forms that are part of this 
system.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                  Estimated numbers of
                                               -------------------------
                                                                Burden
                                                 Responses      hours
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Research Permit and Reporting System..........        6,000        4,875
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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 the need for gathering the 
information in the two collections of information being considered for 
modification and extension. The NPS also is asking for comments on the 
practical utility of the information being gathered; the validity and 
accuracy of the reporting burden hour estimate; ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
ways to minimize the burden to respondents, including use of automated 
information collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    You may obtain copies of the existing application form, annual 
reporting form, and related guidance and explanatory material from the 
NPS Research Permit and Reporting System Web site at: http://science.nature.nps.gov/research. You also may obtain copies of the 
documents and additional information from the source identified below.
    If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments by any one of 
several methods. Although you may mail comments to the postal address 
given here, due to delays caused by processing of mail you may wish to 
use a different method. You may send your comments by facsimile to the 
fax number given below. You may instead comment via the Internet to the 
e-mail address given here (Please submit e-mail comments as an attached 
ASCII or MSWord file and avoid the use of special characters and any 
form of encryption. Please also include ``Attn: NPS Research Permit and 
Reporting System'' and your name and return address in your e-mail 
message. If you would like, but do not receive, a confirmation from the 
system that we have received your e-mail message, contact us directly 
at the phone number given here). Finally, you may hand-deliver comments 
to the address given below.
    Our practice is to make comments, including respondent names and 
addresses (business or home, whatever we receive), available for public 
review during regular business hours. Individual respondents may 
request that we withhold their home address from the record, which we 
will honor to the extent allowable by law. There also may be 
circumstances in which we would withhold from the record a respondent's 
identity, as allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold your name 
and/or address, you must state this prominently at the beginning of 
your comment. We will make all submissions from organizations or 
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as 
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, available 
for public inspection in their entirety. We will not consider anonymous 
comments.

DATES: Public comments will be accepted on or before 60 days from the 
date this notice is published in the Federal Register.
    Send Comments To: Dr. John G. Dennis. By mail: Natural Resources 
(3127 MIB), National Park Service, 1849 C Street, NW., Washington, DC 
20240. By hand delivery: Natural Resources (11th floor), National Park 
Service, 1201 Eye Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005. By fax: 202-371-
2131. By e-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Dr. John G. Dennis. Voice: 202-513-
7174 Fax: 202-371-2131; E-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: National Park Service Research Permit and Reporting System.
    Bureau Form Number: Application for a Scientific Research and 
Collecting Permit: 10-741; Investigator's Annual Report: 10-226.
    OMB Number: 1024-0236.
    Expiration Date: 4/30/2004.
    Type of Request: Revision of a previously approved collection.
    Description of Need: The currently approved information collection 
responds to the statutory requirement

[[Page 68111]]

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 collecting 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 change both the Application for a Scientific Research and 
Collecting Permit and the Investigator's Annual Report to improve their 
usability by respondents and to improve the focus of the information 
NPS collects to address specific needs that use of the two forms over 
the last three years has revealed. Examples of such needs associated 
with managing the permit include additional information about the 
project scope and status, such as expected total time span of the 
project, specific identification of project personnel who will be 
working in the park, status of processing collected specimens, planned 
schedules for the field work phases of the project, and expected end 
date for the project.
    More specifically, NPS is considering proposing changes to the 
Application to improve the use of the Application for both scientific 
research and collecting and scientific education activities. NPS is 
considering proposing changes to the 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 the 
curator for collections authorized in the permit. NPS is considering 
proposing changes to the Application to better understand the schedule 
of field work activities. NPS is considering proposing changes to 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.
    Automated Data Collection: The information collection and status 
reporting system for which the renewal of two 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://science.nature.nps.gov/research). In addition to considering the 
modification of the two information collection forms, NPS is developing 
modification to the Internet site to increase the effectiveness and 
efficiency of this automation system to facilitate the permit 
application and progress reporting process.
    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 permit; permittees who submit the annual report of 
accomplishment that is one of the permit conditions.
    Estimated Average Number of Respondents: 3,000 per year.
    Estimated Average Number of Responses: 6,000 per year. For each 
permit cycle, each respondent will respond usually once to prepare and 
submit the application for a permit and respondents who are successful 
in being awarded a permit will respond a second time to submit the 
Investigator's Annual Report. Given the most applicants are successful 
in being awarded a permit and that permit renewal usually occurs 
annually, the number of responses will approach a total that is two 
times the number of respondents.
    Estimated Average Burden Hours Per Two-Part Response: 1,625 hours 
per year total for responding to both parts of the collection 
information.
    Frequency of Response: 2 times per respondent per year--once to 
submit the application and once to submit the Investigator's Annual 
Report.
    Estimated Annual Reporting Burden: 4,875 hours.

    Dated: November 12, 2003.
Leonard E. Stowe,
Acting National Park Service Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 03-29988 Filed 12-4-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 43210-70-M