[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 164 (Friday, August 22, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49703-49704]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-19427]


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

DATES: Public comments will be accepted on the proposed Information 
Collection Request (ICR) on or before October 21, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to: Margaret Littlejohn; Park Studies Unit, 
College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho; P.O. Box 441139, 
Moscow, Idaho 83844-1139; or via phone at 208/885-7863; or via fax at 
208/885-4261; or via e-mail at [email protected]. Also, you may send 
comments to Leonard E. Stowe, NPS Information Collection Clearance 
Officer, 1849 C St., NW., (2605), Washington, DC 20240; or via e-mail 
at leonard [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: Dr. James Gramann, NPS Social Science 
Program, 1201 ``Eye'' St., Washington, DC 20005; or via phone at 202/
513-7189; or via e-mail at [email protected] . You are 
entitled to a copy of the entire ICR package free of charge.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Programmatic Approval for the National Park Service Visitor 
Services Project
    Bureau Form Number: None
    OMB Number: To be requested.
    Expiration Date: To be requested.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Description of Need: The National Park Service (NPS) relies on 
accurate information concerning park visitors to inform planning and 
management aimed at better serving the visiting public. The NPS 
collects information on visitors' characteristics, opinions, 
preferences, and trip expenditures by means of visitor surveys, 
including those conducted by the NPS Visitor Services Project (VSP). 
Each year, the VSP completes up to 18 visitor surveys and focus groups 
in individual units of the National Park System. The NPS currently has 
a programmatic approval for NPS-sponsored public surveys (1024-0224). 
This programmatic approval has resulted in dramatic improvements in the 
agency's ability to conduct social science research in and around NPS 
units. The proposed VSP Programmatic Approval would extend these 
benefits by allowing this relatively homogeneous subset of information 
collections to go through its own review process. This will reduce the 
time that it takes for VSP information collections to be reviewed and 
fielded, benefiting parks that depend on VSPs to collect timely and 
accurate data from visitors for planning and management purposes.
    The VSP conducts site-specific information collections, including 
in-depth visitor surveys and focus groups, at up to 18 parks per year. 
These studies

[[Page 49704]]

are similar in terms of the populations contacted, the types of 
questions asked, and the research methods employed. Due to these 
similarities, the NPS is proposing to the OMB an alternative approach 
to complying with the Paperwork Reduction Act by allowing individual 
VSP information collection requests to be submitted to OMB under the 
proposed Programmatic Approval. Implementation of this proposal will 
lead to less time involved in creating submissions for individual VSP 
collections and decreased review times for studies submitted under the 
Programmatic Approval. The obligation to respond is voluntary.
    Automated data collection: This information will be collected via 
mail-back surveys or standard focus group protocols. No automated data 
collection will take place.
    Description of respondents: A sample of visitors to parks and/or 
residents of communities near parks.
    Estimated average number of respondents: The program does not 
identify the number of respondents because that number will differ in 
each information collection, depending on the purpose and design of the 
project.
    Estimated average number of responses: The program does not 
identify the number of responses because that number will differ in 
each information collection. For most projects, respondents will be 
asked to respond only one time. In those cases, the number of responses 
will be the same as the number of respondents.
    Estimated average burden hours per response: Completion times for 
individual visitor surveys conducted by the VSP average around 20 
minutes per respondent. Average contact times are one minute per 
contact. Focus groups average two hours in length.
    Frequency of Response: 1 time per respondent.
    Estimated total annual reporting burden: The program identifies the 
requested total number of burden hours annually for all information 
collections to be 10,000 burden hours per year. The total annual burden 
per project for most studies conducted under the auspices of this 
program will be within the range of 100 to 900 burden hours.
    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 hour 
to respondents, including use of automated information techniques or 
other forms of information technology. Before including your address, 
phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information 
in your comment--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: August 7, 2008.
Leonard E. Stowe,
NPS, Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. E8-19427 Filed 8-21-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-M