[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 122 (Tuesday, June 26, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35065-35066]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-3108]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


30-Day Notice of Submission to the Office of Management and 
Budget; Opportunity for Public Comment

AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Under provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1994 (44 
U.S.C. 3507) and 5 CFR part 1320, Reporting and Recordkeeping 
Requirements, the National Park Service (NPS) invites public comments 
on a revision of a currently approved collection of information (OMB 
No. 1024-0236).

DATES: Public Comments on the Information Collection Request (ICR) will 
be accepted on or before July 26, 2007.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments directly to the Desk Officer for the 
Department of the Interior (OMB No. 1024-0236), Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, by fax at 202/395-6566 or by electronic 
mail at [email protected]. Please also send a copy of your 
comments to Dr. John Dennis, Natural Resources (Room 11160), NPS, 1201 
Eye Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005; Phone: 202/513-7174; fax 202/
371-2131: e-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bill Commins, NPS, Natural Resources 
(Room 25), 1201 Eye Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005. Phone: 202/513-
7166; Fax: 202/371-2131; 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. Your are entitled to a copy of the entire ICR package free of 
charge. Copies of the information collection request may be obtained by 
contacting Dr. John Dennis at the address above.
    Comments Received on the 60-Day Federal Register Notice: On March 
8, 2007, the NPS published a notice in the Federal Register to solicit 
comments on the proposed ICR to extend three existing NPS information 
collection instruments that are processed by the existing, Internet-
based Research Permit and Reporting System (see 72 FR: 10553-10554). 
NPS also contacted by e-mail 3,588 non-Federal and Federal permittees 
and permit applicants who were active in calendar years 2006 and 2007, 
posted on the RPRS Web site notice of the availability of this review 
opportunity, and sent an internal memorandum to the NPS Natural 
Resource Advisory Group to solicit comments from the members of that 
group.
    NPS received 13 responses from the public in response to the 
Federal Register notice and subsequent e-mail messages requesting 
comments. These responses provided a diversity of thoughts, which 
included (1) the requested information and time needed to fill out the 
forms are reasonable; (2) the on-line application process is efficient 
and straight forward; (3) the forms and the ability to access on-line 
and report on-line make the application and compliance process very 
easy; (4) the park review and decision process is difficult and 
onerous; (5) too much documentation is required; (6) having each park 
make its own permit decision is unnecessarily piecemeal, arbitrary, and 
burdensome; and (7) it is difficult to figure out how to submit 
``things''. Five respondents specifically addressed the education 
application and permit, saying that it would have benefits or

[[Page 35066]]

offering ideas about what types of education activities should receive 
specific types of consideration, such as (a) simplifying the 
application process, (b) how to treat specimen collections, (c) 
allowing for different treatment for different types of activities, (d) 
offering the ability to change the program leader without reissuing a 
permit, and (e) offering a fee waiver for permitted education 
activities. Several respondents discussed matters outside this request 
for review, including (1) urging NPS to change its collection ownership 
procedure; and (2) requesting the NPS to issue permits on a Service, 
rather than park, basis.
    Actual NPS and researcher use of the Internet-based system over the 
past three years has yielded few complaints and has earned a number of 
kudos. This use also has yielded suggestions from both respondents and 
government employees for making the information collection forms or 
software more efficient or more usable. These suggestions have been 
accumulated and some have been incorporated through ongoing software 
and technical support improvements. Such receipt of, and action on, 
user suggestions, constitutes ongoing consultation with people 
(applicants and permittees) from whom information is being collected 
and by whom collected information is being applied (NPS) personnel and 
users of the Investigator's Annual Report site). Should OMB approve the 
collection of information forms submitted in this extension request, 
additional software changes will be made to incorporate fully the 
improvements contained in these forms.
    If you comment to NPS via electronic mail, please submit your 
comments as an attached ASCII or MSWord file and avoid the use of 
special characters and any form of encryption. Please also include 
``Attn: NPS Research Permit and Reporting System'' and your name and 
return address in your e-mail message. If you would like, but do not 
receive, a confirmation from the system that we have received your e-
mail message, contact us directly at the NPS phone number given here.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Research Permit and Reporting System Collection of 
Information (Application for a Scientific Research and Collecting 
Permit; Application for a Science Education Permit; Investigator's 
Annual Report) (re: 36 CFR 2.1 and 2.5).
    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: June 30, 2007.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    Description of Need: The NPS regulates scientific research and 
collecting studies and science education activities inside park 
boundaries under regulations codified at 36 CFR Part 2, Section 2.5. 
The NPS issued these regulations pursuant to authority under the NPS 
Organic Act 1916 as amended (16 U.S.C. 1 et seq.). The NPS administers 
these regulations to provide for scientific research and collecting and 
scientific education uses of parks while also protecting park resources 
and other park uses from adverse impacts that could occur if 
inappropriate scientific research and collecting studies or science 
education activities were to be conducted within park boundaries.
    Frequency of collection: On occasion.
    Description of respondents: Individual scientific investigators or 
science educators from other governmental agencies, universities and 
colleges, schools, research organizations, and science education 
organizations who apply for a permit and any members of this group who 
receive a permit and then must submit the required annual report of 
accomplishment.
    Estimated average number of respondents: 6,500 per year.
    Estimated average number of responses: Two responses per year per 
respondent for an annual total of 13,000 responses. For each permit 
cycle, each respondent will respond usually once to prepare and submit 
the application for a permit and respondents who are successful in 
being issued a permit will respond a second time to submit the required 
investigator's Annual Report. Given that most applicants are successful 
in being issued a permit and that permit renewal usually occurs 
annually, the number of responses will approach a total that is two 
times the number of respondents.
    Estimated average time burden per respondent: NPS estimates the 
reporting burden for this collection of information, including both the 
relevant application and the annual report, will average 1.625 hours 
per respondent per year.
    Frequency of response: 2 per respondent per year.
    Estimated total annual reporting burden: 10,560 hours. This number 
assumes 6,500 respondents each take about 0.75 hours to complete the 
automated application form (including reading the guidance material), 
up to 6,500 successful applicants each take 0.25 hours to sign the 
issued permit and return it to the park, and up to 6,500 permittees 
each take 0.25 hours to complete the automated Investigator's Annual 
Report form, including reading the instructions. In addition, this 
number includes 0.25 hours each for approximately 1,500 respondents to 
copy and process documents that cannot be submitted electronically, and 
0.5 hours each for up to 1,500 respondents to prepare the portion of 
the Application for a Scientific Research and Collecting Permit that 
requires coordination with one or more non-NPS museums or other 
specimen repositories. Those few applicants who will be unable to 
process their applications and report forms electronically likely will 
spend a longer amount of time completing each form manually.
    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 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.

    Dated: May 23, 2007.
Leonard E. Stowe,
NPS, Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 07-3108 Filed 6-25-07; 8:45 am]
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