[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 227 (Friday, November 26, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 68965]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-26150]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Information Collection Renewal Submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for Approval Under the Paperwork Reduction 
Act; OMB Control Number 1018-0112; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
Employee Exit Follow-Up, Authorized by the Merit System Principles (5 
U.S.C. 2301)

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Fish and Wildlife Service (We/Service) is requesting that OMB extend an 
existing approval to collect information from former employees. We will 
use the information that we collect to assist us in developing 
strategies to improve employee retention.

DATES: You must submit comments on or before December 27, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Send your comments on this information collection renewal to 
the Desk Officer for the Department of the Interior at OMB-OIRA at 
(202) 395-6566 (fax) or at [email protected] (e-mail). Please 
provide a copy of your comments to Hope Grey, Information Collection 
Clearance Officer, Fish and Wildlife Service, MS 222-ARLSQ, 4401 N. 
Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203 (mail); (703) 358-2269 (fax); or at 
[email protected] (e-mail).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the information 
collection requirements, the related form, or explanatory information, 
contact Hope Grey at the address or fax number listed above or by 
telephone at (703) 358-2482.

SUPPLEMENTATARY INFORMATION: We have sent a request to OMB to renew 
approval of the information collection clearance requirements for an 
Employee Exit Follow-up Survey. Currently, we have approval from OMB to 
collect information under OMB control number 1018-0112. This approval 
expires on November 30, 2004. We may not conduct or sponsor, and a 
person is not required to respond to, a collection of information 
unless we display a currently valid OMB control number. OMB regulations 
at 5 CFR 1320, which implement provisions of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), require that interested members 
of the public and affected agencies have an opportunity to comment on 
information collection and recordkeeping activities (see 5 CFR 
1320.8(d)). OMB has up to 60 days to approve or disapprove our 
information collection request, but their response may be given as 
early as 30 days after our submittal. Therefore, to ensure 
consideration, send your comments to OMB by the date listed in the 
DATES section near the beginning of this notice.
    On August 6, 2004, we published in the Federal Register (69 FR 
47948) a 60-day notice of our intent to request renewal of this 
information collection authority from OMB. In that notice, we solicited 
public comments for 60 days ending on October 5, 2004. We received one 
comment regarding this notice. The commenter expressed general 
opposition to the use of the survey and encouraged the Service to 
protect wildlife. The commenter did not provide specific reasons for 
objecting to the survey or address the information collected. Service 
management has made it a high priority to ensure that we retain the 
highest caliber employees possible. We can do this only if we examine 
and analyze the reasons for employee separation from the Service. 
Therefore, we have not made any changes to the survey based on this 
comment.
    The Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency 
responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish, wildlife, 
and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the 
American people. We manage the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge 
System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of 
small wetlands, and other special management areas. We also operate 69 
national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices, and 81 
ecological services field stations. We enforce Federal wildlife laws, 
administer the Endangered Species Act, manage migratory bird 
populations, restore nationally significant fisheries, conserve and 
restore wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and help foreign governments 
with their conservation efforts. We also oversee the Federal Assistance 
program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars of excise 
taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife 
agencies. We have made it a high priority to recruit and retain valued 
employees to accomplish these responsibilities. As part of an active 
career development program, we have instituted an Employee Exit Follow-
up Survey to collect feedback from former Service employees so that we 
may discover relevant issues that impact employee retention. If this 
survey were not used, there would be no way we could analyze the 
reasons for employee separation.
    We estimate that the total annual burden associated with the 
request will be 100 hours. This represents an average of 400 
respondents with each taking an estimated 15 minutes to complete the 
survey.
    Title: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Employee Exit Follow-up, 
authorized by the Merit System Principles (5 U.S.C. 2301).
    OMB Control Number: 1018-0112.
    Form Number: FWS Form 3-2186.
    Frequency of Collection: Occasionally.
    Description of Respondents: Former Fish and Wildlife Service 
employees.
    Total Annual Responses: 400.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 100 hours.
    We again invite comments on this information collection renewal on: 
(1) Whether or not this collection of information is necessary for us 
to properly perform our functions, including whether or not this 
information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of our 
estimate of burden, including the validity of the methodology and 
assumptions we use; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information we are proposing to collect; and (4) ways 
for us to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    Our practice is to make comments, including names and home 
addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular 
business hours. Individual respondents may request that we withhold 
their home addresses from the record, which we will honor to the extent 
allowable by law. If you wish to withhold your name and/or address, you 
must state this clearly at the beginning of your comment. We will not 
consider anonymous comments. We generally 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.

    Dated: November 5, 2004.
Hope Grey,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 04-26150 Filed 11-24-04; 8:45 am]
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