[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 13 (Friday, January 21, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3221-3222]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-1134]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Information Collection Renewal To Be Submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for Approval Under the Paperwork Reduction 
Act; Private Stewardship Grants Program; 1018-0118

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service (We/Service) plans to submit the 
collection of information described below to OMB for approval under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act. We use the information 
collected for the Private Stewardship Grants Program (PSGP) to review 
requests for funding and to comply with Federal reporting requirements 
for grants awarded under this program.

DATES: You must submit comments on or before March 23, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Send your comments on the information collection requirement 
via mail to the Information Collection Clearance Officer, Fish and 
Wildlife Service, Mail Stop 222-ARLSQ, 4401

[[Page 3222]]

North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22203; via fax at (703) 358-
2269; or via 3-mail at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the proposed 
information collection requirement or explanatory material, contact 
Hope Grey, Information Collection Clearance Officer, at the address 
above or by telephone at (703) 358-2482.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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)). We plan 
to submit a request to OMB to renew approval of the collection of 
information for the Private Stewardship Grants Programs (PSGP), which 
expires on July 31, 2005. The OMB control number for this collection of 
information is 1018-0118. We are requesting a 3-year term of approval 
for this information collection activity. Federal agencies may not 
conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to a collection of 
information unless its displays a currently valid OMB control number.
    The PSGP provides grants and other assistance on a competitive 
basis to individuals and groups engaged in private conservation efforts 
that benefit species listed or proposed as endangered or threatened 
under the Endangered Species Act, candidate species, or other at-risk 
species. In implementing the PSGP, we request project proposals from 
the public. For projects selected for funding, we also request 
information to satisfy Federal reporting requirements. These requests 
constitute an information collection requiring OMB approval under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act.
    Congress established the Private Stewardship Grants Program (PSGP) 
in 2002. Pending appropriations, a notice of funding availability is 
posted annually on the http://www.grants.gov website. The information 
collection associated with the PSGP is authorized by the 2005 
Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 4818; Pub. L. 108-447). The 
information collection associated with the PSGP is voluntary, but is 
required to receive benefits in the form of a grant. The funding 
provided to private landowners through this program will address 
threats to many critically imperiled species. Taking action to 
establish partnerships with private landowners through the PSGP is 
central to our mission.
    The information collected in the request for proposals is used in a 
competitive funding process to determine the eligibility and relative 
value of conservation projects as described in the project proposals. 
The information is used by Service employees. Additionally, a diverse 
panel of representatives from State and Federal government, 
conservation organizations, agriculture and development interests, and 
the science community assesses project proposals and makes funding 
recommendations to the Service. Information collected under this 
program is used to respond to such needs as: Government Performance and 
Results Act (GPRA) reporting, grant agreements, budget reports and 
justification, public and private requests for information, data 
provided to other programs for databases on similar programs, 
Congressional inquiries, and other informational reports. We also 
collect information from award recipients on an annual basis to fulfill 
Federal grant reporting requirements.
    If we did not collect the information, we would have to eliminate 
the PSGP because it would not be possible to determine eligibility and 
the scale of resource values or relative worth of the proposed 
projects. Reducing the frequency of the information collection would 
only reduce the frequency of windows for grant opportunities as the 
information is unique to each project.
    Title: Stewardship Grants Program.
    OMB Control Number: 1018-0118.
    Form Number: None.
    Frequency: A request for proposals is issued annually. In addition, 
grant recipients must submit reports on an annual basis.
    Description of Respondents: Private landowners, including 
individuals and nonprofit organizations.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 12,400 hours.
    Total Annual Responses: Approximately 300 respondents.
    We consulted four previous respondents about the availability of 
the information requested, the clarity of the instructions, and the 
annual hour burden for the application materials and the annual 
reports. All respondents said that the application instructions are 
clear and the information is easily available. The respondents 
estimated the hour burden for the application from 1 day to 3 weeks. We 
believe that this variance results from some respondents estimating the 
entire time it took them to develop the project as well as to present 
that information in the form of an application, whereas other 
respondents only included the actual time to write the application 
materials. The average hour burden estimated by respondents is 
approximately 40 hours. The average number of applicants is about 300. 
The hour burden estimated by the respondents for the reporting 
requirements varied between 2 hours and 8 hours, with an average of 
about 4 hours. The average number of award recipients is about 100. The 
total annual burden hours is 12,000 hours for the project proposals and 
400 hours for reporting activities.
    We invite your comments on: (1) Whether or not the collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the Private 
Stewardship Grants Program, including whether or not the information 
will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of our estimate of the 
burden of the collection of information; (3) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents. The information collections in this program are part of a 
system of records covered by the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552(a)).

    Dated: January 5, 2005.
Hope Grey,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 05-1134 Filed 1-19-05; 8:45 am]
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