[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 147 (Tuesday, August 2, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44354-44355]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-15187]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


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

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We (Fish and Wildlife Service or Service) have submitted the 
collection of information described below to OMB for approval under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act. The information collected 
for the Private Stewardship Grants Program (PSGP) is needed 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 September 1, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Send your comments and suggestions on this information 
collection renewal to the Desk Officer for the Department of the 
Interior at OMB-OIRA at (202) 395-6566 (fax) or [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 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203 
(mail); (703) 358-2269 (fax); or [email protected] (e-mail).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the information 
collection requirements, explanatory information, or related materials, 
contact Hope Grey at the addresses above or by phone at (703) 358-2482.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Management and Budget (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)). The OMB control number for the collection of 
information for the Private Stewardship Grants Program is 1018-0118, 
which expires July 31, 2005. We have sent a request to OMB to renew its 
approval of this collection of information. OMB has up to 60 days to 
approve or disapprove our request for renewal, but may respond in as 
early as 30 days. To ensure consideration, send your comments to OMB by 
the date listed in the DATES section. Federal agencies may not conduct 
or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of 
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
    On January 21, 2005, we published in the Federal Register (70 FR 
3221) 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 March 23, 2005. We received one 
comment regarding this notice. The commenter expressed opposition to 
the awarding of grants to gun clubs and requested a list of 2003 PSGP 
grant recipients. We note the concerns raised by this individual; 
however, under the PSPG, all private landowners are eligible to receive 
funding for on-the-ground conservation actions that benefit at-risk 
species. We have not made any changes to our information collection as 
a result of the comment. A list of 2003 awards is online at http://endangered.fes.gov/grants/private_stewardship/FY2003/index.html.
    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.
    Congress established the Private Stewardship Grants Program (PSGP) 
in 2002. Pending appropriations, a notice of funding availability is 
posted

[[Page 44355]]

annually on the www.grants.gov Web site. 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. 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. We use the information collected under 
this program 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.
    This information collection is associated with an annual request 
for proposals (RFP). The annual RP is issued at the beginning of the 
fiscal year concurrent with an annual appropriation. 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: Private 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 hour 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: July 1, 2005.
Hope Grey,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 05-15187 Filed 8-1-05; 8:45 am]
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