[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 45 (Thursday, March 8, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10553-10554]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-1079]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Under provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 5 
CFR part 1320, Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements, the National 
Park Service (NPS) invites public comments on an extension of a 
currently approved collection of information (OMB No. 1024-0236).

DATES: Public comments on the proposed Information Collection Request 
(ICR) will be accepted on or before May 7, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Send Comments To: Dr. John G. Dennis, Natural Resources 
(Room 1160), NPS, 1201 Eye Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005; Phone: 
202/513-7174; fax: 202/371-2131; e-mail [email protected]. Also, please send a copy of your comments to 
Leonard Stowe, Information Collection Clearance Officer, NPS, 1849 C 
St., NW (2605), Washington, DC 20240, or by e-mail at [email protected]. All responses to this notice will be summarized and 
included in the request for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
approval. All comments will become a matter of public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bill Commins, NPS, Natural Resources 
(Room 25), 1201 Eye St., NW., Washington, DC 20005. Phone 202/513-7166; 
Fax: 202/317-2131; E-mail: [email protected]. You may obtain 
additional information about the application and annual reporting forms 
and existing guidance and explanatory material from the NPS Research 
Permit and Reporting System Web site at: http://science.nature.nps.gov/research. You are entitled to a copy of the entire ICR package free of 
charge.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Research Permit and Reporting System Collection of 
Information Package: Application for a Scientific Research and 
Collecting Permit: Application for a Science Education Permit; 
Investigator's Annual Report.
    Bureau Form Number(s): Application for a Scientific Research and 
Collecting Permit: 10-741a; Application for a Science Education Permit: 
10-741b; Investigator's Annual Report: 10-226.
    OMB Number: 1024-0236.
    Expiration Date: 6/30/2007.
    Type of Request: Revision of a previously approved information 
collection.
    Description of Need: The currently approved information collection 
responds to the statutory requirement 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 collection 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 develop the 
Internet software for, and implement, the Application for a Science 
Education Permit that OMB reviewed and approved in 2004. NPS is 
proposing to leave the current Application for a Scientific Research 
and Collecting Permit and the Investigator's Annual Report collection 
of information forms largely unchanged unless responses to this request 
for comments identify areas in the two collections of information that 
warrant change.
    In response to suggestions for changes identified prior to and 
during the review of this information collection package in 2004, NPS 
added entries to obtain more specific information about project scope 
and status, including expected total time span of the project, specific 
identification of project personnel who will be working in the park, 
status of processing of collected specimens, planned schedules for the 
field work phases of the project, and expected end date for the 
project. NPS also split the Application into two versions to improve 
the ability to use the Internet to process applications for both 
scientific research and collecting and scientific education activities, 
but has not yet modified the Internet software to implement the science 
education component. NPS changed the scientific research and collecting 
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 responsible for collections 
authorized in the permit. NPS changed 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. NPS also designed the Investigator's Annual 
Report to accommodate in a single form progress reports from both 
science research and collecting and science education permittees.
    At this time, NPS is not proposing to make any changes to any of 
these three collections of information. NPS is considering updating 
some of the guidance documents and specifically is considering creating 
a separate guidance document regarding science education activities. 
NPS specifically requests comments on the clarity and utility of the 
guidance documents and on desired content of a separate guidance 
document for the science education activities. NPS also is considering 
whether to create a new component of this collection of information 
package specifically to offer users of the Internet site an opportunity 
to provide comments online regarding the usability of the Internet site 
and working relationships with parks in which permittees conduct 
science activities.
    Based on growth in use of this collection of information system 
over the past six years, NPS is proposing to request an increase in the 
burden hour budget. At the onset of the system, NPS estimated that 
there would be approximately 3,000 applications and 3,000 
Investigator's Annual Reports submitted each year. The average numbers 
reported for 2004 and 2005 permitted activities, which are the latest 
two years with complete information for numbers of active permits and 
submitted Investigator's Annual Reports, show 4,472 studies per year 
under permit, 5,046 active permits per year, and 3,657 Investigator's 
Annual Reports. Experience with using this system shows that, for a 
variety of reasons related to both applicants and parks, a number of 
studies apply for and obtain more than one permit per year for the same 
study while other studies receive permits that are active for more than 
one year at a time. These situations

[[Page 10554]]

lead to the result that there are more active permits in a year than 
there are active studies.
    Comments are invited on: (1) The practical utility of the 
information being gathered; (2) the validity and accuracy of the 
reporting 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 personal identifying information in your comment, you 
should be aware that your entire comment--including your personal 
identifying information--may be made public 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.
    Automated Data Collection: The information collection and status 
reporting system for which the renewal of three 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 
renewal of the three information collection forms without changes, NPS 
is considering what development of modifications to the Internet site, 
if any, are needed to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of this 
automation system to facilitate the permit application and progress 
reporting process. If NPS were to adopt a component by which users 
could provide comments to NPS, NPS would make that component available 
online through the Internet site.
    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 or science education permit; permittees who submit the 
annual report of accomplishment that is one of the permit conditions.
    Estimated Average Number of Respondents: NPS estimates the average 
number of respondents to be 6,500 by 2010.
    Estimated Average Number of Responses: NPS estimates an average 
number of 13,000 responses by 2010.
    Estimated Average Burden Hours Per Two-Part Response: 1,625 hours 
per year total for responding to both parts of this collection of 
information was the estimate in 2004. NPS does not expect this burden 
hour estimate to change, even if the proposed opportunity for permit 
system users to offer comments to NPS is adopted, because returning 
users are expected to be able to spend less time on the two existing 
parts and the goal for the collection of information for the comments 
is to make that collection of information short and focused.
    Frequency of Response: 2 times per respondent per year--once to 
submit the application and once to submit the Investigator's Annual 
Report. A small number of respondents is expected to submit a third 
response, should the proposed collection of information for comments be 
added to the system.
    Estimated Annual Reporting Burden: NPS estimates the estimated 
annual reporting burden will be 10,560 hours by the year 2010.

    Dated: February 7, 2007.
Leonard E. Stowe,
NPS, Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 07-1079 Filed 3-7-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-EJ-M