[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 183 (Tuesday, September 22, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57202-57203]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-23969]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FW-HQ-MB-2015-N185; FXMB123109EAGLE-156-FF09M20300]


Proposed Information Collection; Bald Eagle Post-Delisting 
Monitoring

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) will ask the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) 
described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act 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. This IC is scheduled to expire 
on December 31, 2015. We may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not 
required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number.

DATES: To ensure that we are able to consider your comments on this IC, 
we must receive them by November 23, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Send your comments on the IC to the Information Collection 
Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS BPHC, 5275 
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803 (mail); or [email protected] 
(email). Please include ``1018-0143'' in the subject line of your 
comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information 
about this IC, contact Hope Grey at [email protected] (email) or 703-
358-2482 (telephone).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    I. Abstract. This information collection implements the monitoring 
requirements discussed in the Post-delisting Monitoring Plan for the 
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the Contiguous 48 States 
(Plan). The Plan was developed to meet post-delisting requirements of 
the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) (ESA). There are no 
specific corresponding Service regulations for the ESA's post-delisting 
monitoring requirement.
    The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the lower 48 States 
was removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 
(delisted) on August 8, 2007 (72 FR 37346, July 9, 2007). Section 4(g) 
of the ESA requires that all species that are recovered and removed 
from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife be monitored in 
cooperation with the States for a period of not less than 5 years. The 
purpose of this requirement is to detect any failure of a recovered 
species to sustain itself without the protections of the ESA. We work 
with relevant Federal, State, and tribal entities and other species 
experts to develop plans and procedures for systematically monitoring 
recovered wildlife and plants after a species is delisted. The bald 
eagle has a large geographic distribution that includes substantial 
non-Federal land. Although the ESA requires that monitoring of 
recovered species be conducted for not less than 5 years, the Plan 
reasoned that

[[Page 57203]]

the life history of bald eagles is such that it is appropriate to 
monitor this species for a longer period of time in order to 
meaningfully evaluate whether or not the bald eagle continues to 
maintain its recovered status.
    We plan to monitor the status of the bald eagle in the 48 
contiguous States using several information sources, including 
collecting data on nests over a 20-year period with sampling events in 
particular years. The Plan describes monitoring procedures and methods 
for surveying and estimating the number of occupied nests, which 
represents the number of breeding pairs. The Plan is available at 
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/eagle/protect/FinalBAEA_PDMPlan.html. We 
will use monitoring data to review the status of the bald eagle in the 
United States and determine if the population remains recovered under 
the ESA.

II. Data

    OMB Control Number: 1018-0143.
    Title: Bald Eagle Post-delisting Monitoring.
    Service Form Number: None.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Description of Respondents: States, tribes, and local governments; 
Federal land managers; and nongovernmental partners.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Frequency of Collection: Once every 5 years or less.
    Note: For each survey, we estimate a total of 48 respondents will 
provide 48 responses totaling 1,478 burden hours. The burden estimates 
below are annualized over the 3-year period of OMB approval.
    Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.

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                                                                                    Completion
                                                     Number of       Number of       time per      Total annual
                    Activity                        respondents      responses       response      burden hours
                                                                                      (hours)
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Survey..........................................              16              16            30.8             493
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............             493
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III. Comments

    We invite comments concerning this information collection on:
     Whether or not the collection of information is necessary, 
including whether or not the information will have practical utility;
     The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this 
collection of information;
     Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request 
to OMB to approve this IC. Before including your address, phone number, 
email 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: September 16, 2015.
Tina A. Campbell,
Chief, Division of Policy, Performance, and Management Programs, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-23969 Filed 9-21-15; 8:45 am]
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