[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 234 (Wednesday, December 6, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70785-70786]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-9538]


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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: Under provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 5 
CFR Part 1320, Reporting and Record Keeping Requirements, the National 
Park Service (NPS) invites comments on a proposed new collection of 
information (OMB  1024-XXXX).

DATES: Public comments will be accepted on or before February 5, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Send Comments To: Patricia A. Taylor, Ph.D. (Professor, 
Departments of Statistics and Sociology, and WYSAC Faculty Affiliate)--
University of Wyoming, Department of Sociology/Dept. 3293 or Dept of 
Statistics/Dept. 3332, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, Wyoming 82071; 
[email protected]; (307) 766-6870 (office direct line), (307) 766-4229 
(Statistics office).
    To Request a Draft of Proposed Collection of Information Contact: 
Patricia A. Taylor, Ph.D. (Professor, Departments of Statistics and 
Sociology, and WYSAC Faculty Affiliate)--University of Wyoming, 
Department of Sociology/Dept. 3293 or Dept of Statistics/Dept. 3332, 
1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, Wyoming 82071; [email protected]; (307) 
766-6870 (office direct line), (307) 766-4229 (Statistics office).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Gramann, Social Science Program, 
National Park Service, 1201 Eye Street, NW (2300), Washington, DC 
20005; Phone 202-513-7189; E-mail [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: 2007 National Park Service Comprehensive Survey of the 
American Public.
    Bureau Form Number: None.
    OMB Number: To be requested.
    Expiration Date: To be requested.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Description of Need: The NPS conducted its last comprehensive 
survey of the American public in 2000. That survey provided valuable 
information on patterns of use and non-use of parks and on the 
demographic characteristics of visitors and non-visitors that have been 
used to inform NPS decision-making. However, since 2000 many events and 
actions have occurred with the potential to affect the public's 
knowledge, behavior, and opinions regarding the NPS and the National 
Park System. Examples include the terrorist attacks of September 11, 
2001, higher fuel prices, and several catastrophic hurricanes and 
wildfires. In addition, the U.S. population has aged and become more 
racially and ethnically diverse since the last comprehensive survey. 
Although the NPS and its research partners regularly survey visitors to 
selected National Park System units, these separate surveys cannot be 
rolled up into a description of visitors at the national and regional 
levels, nor do they describe the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of 
non-visitors and former visitors. Furthermore, individual park visitor 
surveys are not able to show trends in the knowledge, opinions, and 
behavior of the U.S. population over time. This information is 
essential to informing many important planning and management decisions 
of the NPS, ranging from visitor services, fee policy, and resource 
management actions to civic engagement and visitors and non-visitors 
over time can also provide a perspective on how national and regional 
populations are changing in their knowledge of the National Park System 
and in their use of parks, including leisure travel patterns, perceived 
service quality, and constraints to park visitation.
    The method of information collection for the 2007 survey will be a 
nationwide telephone survey of households conducted using a random-
digit-dial (RDD) telephone sample, disproportionately stratified by the 
seven NPS administrative regions (including the states of Alaska and 
Hawaii). In each of the seven regions, 500 completed interviews of 
about 15 minutes length will be obtained, for a total of 3,500 
completions.
    The data collected from the comprehensive survey will profile 
patterns in visitation and non-visitation to the National Park System. 
These findings will be described in a national technical report and in 
reports for each of the seven NPS regions. Thematic reports on specific 
policy and management issues included in the survey will be produced, 
and a summary report tracking changes in key variables between 2000 and 
2007 will be written.
    Response rates to telephone surveys have been declining. Therefore, 
it is probable that future NPS surveys of the American public will 
shift from telephone interviewing to a mail response or to a 
combination of response modes. Changes in response mode from telephone 
to mail can affect answers to survey questions. Because the NPS 
comprehensive survey tracks several ``core'' variables over time, it is 
important to know if measured changes in these variables are due to a 
switch in response modes or to real changes in the variables. To 
understand how response mode affects answers to core questions, the NPS 
will compare the telephone mode of survey administration with a paper 
and pencil self-administration. This test will utilize an additional 
sample of 4,000 listed mailing addresses with associated phone numbers 
(screened to eliminate numbers that duplicate numbers in the RDD 
sample) and randomly split in half.
    A short-form questionnaire including a few core variables from the 
full survey, such as visitation patterns and demographics, will be used 
for this test. One-half of the sample will be administered as a phone 
survey. The other half will be sent a printed version of the short-form 
questionnaire. The project anticipates obtaining 1,000 completed 
questionnaires from each of the two response modes, for an additional 
2,000 short interviews beyond the 3,500 completed for the main 
telephone survey. A report on response-mode effects on survey 
interviewing will be produced, including mode effects on response 
rates, non-response bias, the demographic characteristics of 
respondents, item non-response, and substantive responses to core 
variables.
    Comments are invited on: (1) The practical utility of the 
information being gathered; (2) the accuracy of the burden hour 
estimate; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden to 
respondents, including use of automated information collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology. Before including 
your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other identifying 
information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire 
comment--including your personal identifying information--may be made 
publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to 
withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we 
cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

[[Page 70786]]

    Automated data collection: This information will be primarily 
collected via telephone interviews. Some information will be collected 
through paper and pencil, self-administered mail-back surveys. No 
automated data collection will take place.
    Description of respondents: Residents of the United States of 
America in the seven administrative regions of National Park Service.
    Estimated average number of respondents: 5,500 (3,500 for the main 
telephone survey and 2,000 for the response-mode test).
    Estimated average number of responses: 5,500.
    Estimated average burden hours per response: 10 minutes.
    Frequency of response: 1 time per respondent.
    Estimated annual reporting burden: 1,100 hours.

    Dated: November 29, 2006.
Leonard E. Stowe,
NPS, Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 06-9538 Filed 12-5-06; 8:45 am]
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