[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 125 (Tuesday, June 30, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37292-37293]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-15948]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

U.S. Geological Survey

[GX15RB00FXBRD00]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of a new information collection: Assessing Public Views 
of Waterfowl-Related Topics to Inform the North American Waterfowl 
Management Plan.

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SUMMARY: We (the U.S. Geological Survey) will ask the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) 
described below. As required by the

[[Page 37293]]

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, and as part of our continuing 
efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to 
comment on this IC.

DATES: To ensure that your comments are considered, we must receive 
them on or before August 31, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this information collection to 
the Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, 
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive MS 807, Reston, VA 20192 (mail); (703) 648-
7197 (fax); or [email protected] (email). Please reference 
`Information Collection 1028-NEW, Assessing Public Views of Waterfowl-
Related Topics to Inform the North American Waterfowl Management Plan' 
in all correspondence.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Holly Miller, Social Scientist, at 
(970) 226-9133 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) is an 
international agreement signed by the United States Secretary of the 
Interior, the Canadian Minister of the Environment, and the Mexican 
Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources. NAWMP lays out a 
strategy to restore waterfowl populations in North America through 
habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement. The 2012 revised 
goals of NAWMP focused for the first time on people as well as 
waterfowl and their habitats. Specifically, the plan states that ``The 
needs and desires of people [as they relate to waterfowl] must be 
clearly understood and explicitly addressed'' and calls for more human 
dimensions research with waterfowl hunters, viewers, and the general 
public. The plan recognizes the interconnectedness of waterfowl, their 
habitat, and stakeholders. Without human dimensions information, NAWMP 
objectives may not reflect stakeholder and societal values, and 
management and policy decisions may lead to actions that could be 
either irrelevant or counter to stakeholder and societal expectations.
    To meet the goals set forth in the 2012 NAWMP revision, the NAWMP 
Human Dimensions Working Group has asked the USGS to conduct a mail 
survey to assess the general public's awareness and perceptions of 
waterfowl and wetlands, as well as measure participation in 
recreational activities, conservation behaviors, how people obtain 
information on nature-related issues, and demographics. Demographics 
collected on the survey will include voluntarily provided personally 
identifiable information (PII) such as gender, education, income, and 
race/ethnicity. Additionally, a representative sample of names and 
mailing addresses from the general public will be purchased from a 
survey sampling company which uses publically available information to 
construct sample lists.
    To protect the confidentiality and privacy of survey respondents, 
the voluntarily provided PII from the survey will not be associated 
with any respondent's name or mailing address at any time and will only 
be analyzed and reported in aggregate. All files containing PII will be 
password-protected, housed on secure USGS servers, and only accessible 
to the research team.
    PII collected on the survey will be used to understand if any 
segments of the American public hold differing views on waterfowl and 
waterfowl-related topics. For example, there may be differences in 
awareness and perceptions of waterfowl and wetlands or in participation 
in recreational activities between men and women. This will enable 
waterfowl managers and policymakers to better understand and be more 
responsive to the varied stakeholders they are serving. The data from 
the survey will be aggregated and statistically analyzed and the 
results will be published in publically available USGS reports.
    The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area is conducting this effort as it 
aligns with their mission to ``work with others to provide the 
scientific understanding and technologies needed to support the sound 
management and conservation of our Nation's biological resources.'' 
Specifically, the Ecosystems Mission Area ``enters into partnerships 
with scientific collaborators to produce high-quality scientific 
information and partnerships with the users of scientific information 
to ensure this information's relevance and application to real 
problems.''

II. Data

    OMB Control Number: 1028-NEW.
    Title: Assessing Public Views of Waterfowl-Related Topics to Inform 
the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.
    Type of Request: New information collection.
    Affected Public: General public.
    Respondent's Obligation: None. Participation is voluntary.
    Frequency of Collection: One time only.
    Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 1,200.
    Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 1,200.
    Estimated Time per Response: 20 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 400.
    Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-Hour Cost'' Burden: 
None.
    Public Disclosure Statement: The PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) 
provides that an agency may not conduct or sponsor and you are not 
required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number and current expiration date.

III. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting comments as to: (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the agency to perform its 
duties, including whether the information is useful; (b) the accuracy 
of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (d) how to minimize the burden 
on the respondents, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Please note that the comments submitted in response to this notice 
are a matter of public record. Before including your personal mailing 
address, phone number, email address, or other personally identifiable 
information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire 
comment, including your personally identifiable information, may be 
made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your 
comment to withhold your personally identifiable information from 
public view, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

    Dated: May 24, 2015.
David Hamilton,
Fort Collins Science Center Director.
[FR Doc. 2015-15948 Filed 6-29-15; 08:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4311-AM-P