[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 234 (Monday, December 7, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76030-76031]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-30696]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-HQ-MB-2015-N230; FF09M21200-156-FXMB1231099BPP0]


Information Collection Request Sent to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for Approval; Control and Management of Resident 
Canada Geese

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) have sent an Information 
Collection Request (ICR) to OMB for review and approval. We summarize 
the ICR below and describe the nature of the collection and the 
estimated burden and cost. This information collection 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. However, under OMB 
regulations, we may continue to conduct or sponsor this information 
collection while it is pending at OMB.

DATES: You must submit comments on or before January 6, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Send your comments and suggestions on this information 
collection to the Desk Officer for the Department of the Interior at 
OMB-OIRA at (202) 395-5806 (fax) or [email protected] 
(email). Please provide a copy of your comments to the Service 
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 ``1018-0133'' in 
the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information 
about this ICR, contact Hope Grey at [email protected] (email) or 703-
358-2482 (telephone). You may review the ICR online at http://www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to review Department of the 
Interior collections under review by OMB.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Information Collection Request

    OMB Control Number: 1018-0133.
    Title: Control and Management of Resident Canada Geese, 50 CFR 
20.21, 21.49, 21.50, 21.51, 21.52, and 21.61.
    Service Form Number: None.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Description of Respondents: State fish and wildlife agencies, 
tribes, and local governments; airports; landowners; and farms.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain a benefit.
    Frequency of Collection: Annually.

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                                         Number of       Number of        Completion time per      Total annual
              Activity                  respondents      responses             response           burden hours *
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.49--Airport Control Order--Annual              50              50  1.5 hours.................              76
 Report.
21.50--Nest and Egg Depredation                1,000           1,000  30 minutes................             500
 Order--Initial Registration.
21.50--Nest and Egg Depredation                3,000           3,000  15 minutes................             751
 Order--Renew Registration.
21.50--Nest and Egg Depredation                4,000           4,000  15 minutes................           1,000
 Order--Annual Report.
21.51--Agricultural Depredation                  600             600  30 minutes................             300
 Order--Recordkeeping.
21.51--Agricultural Depredation                   20              20  8 hours...................             160
 Order--Annual Report.
21.52--Public Health Control Order--              20              20  1 hour....................              20
 Annual Report.
21.49, 21.50, 21.51, and 21.52--                   2               2  15 minutes................               1
 Report Take of Endangered Species.
21.61--Population Control Approval                 3               3  24 hours..................              72
 Request--Recordkeeping and Annual
 Report.
21.61--Population Control Approval                 3               3  160 hours.................            4,80
 Request--Population Estimates.
                                     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..........................           8,698           8,698  ..........................           3,360
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* Rounded.

    Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.
    Abstract: The Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibits the take, 
possession, import, export, transport, sale, purchase, or bartering of 
migratory birds or their

[[Page 76031]]

parts except as permitted under the terms of a valid permit or as 
permitted by regulations. In 2006, we issued regulations establishing 
two depredation orders and three control orders that allow State and 
tribal wildlife agencies, private landowners, and airports to conduct 
resident Canada goose population management, including the take of 
birds. We monitor the data collected for activities under these orders 
and may rescind an order if monitoring indicates that activities are 
inconsistent with conservation of Canada geese.
    Control order for airports. Our regulations at 50 CFR 21.49 allow 
managers at commercial, public, and private airports and military 
airfields and their employees or agents to implement management of 
resident Canada geese to resolve or prevent threats to public safety. 
An airport must be part of the National Plan of Integrated Airport 
Systems and have received Federal grant-in-aid assistance or be a 
military airfield under the jurisdiction, custody, or control of the 
Secretary of a military department. Each facility exercising the 
privileges of the order must submit an annual report with the date, 
numbers, and locations of birds, nests, and eggs taken.
    Depredation order for nests and eggs. Our regulations at 50 CFR 
21.50 allow private landowners and managers of public lands to destroy 
resident Canada goose nests and eggs on property under their 
jurisdiction, provided they register annually on our Web site at 
https://epermits.fws.gov/eRCGR. Registrants must provide basic 
information, such as name, address, phone number, and email, and 
identify where the control work will occur and who will conduct it. 
Registrants must return to the Web site to report the number of nests 
with eggs they destroyed.
    Depredation order for agricultural facilities. Our regulations at 
50 CFR 21.51 allow States and tribes, via their wildlife agencies, to 
implement programs to allow landowners, operators, and tenants actively 
engaged in commercial agriculture to conduct damage management control 
when geese are committing depredations, or to resolve or prevent other 
injury to agricultural interests. State and tribal wildlife agencies in 
the Atlantic, Central, and Mississippi Flyway portions of 41 States may 
implement the provisions of the order. Each implementing agricultural 
producer must maintain a log of the date and number of birds taken 
under this authorization. Each State and tribe exercising the 
privileges of the order must submit an annual report of the numbers of 
birds, nests, and eggs taken, and the county or counties where take 
occurred.
    Public health control order. Our regulations at 50 CFR 21.52 
authorize States and tribes of the lower 48 States to conduct (via the 
State or tribal wildlife agency) resident Canada goose control and 
management activities when the geese pose a direct threat to human 
health. States and tribes operating under this order must submit an 
annual report summarizing activities, including the numbers of birds 
taken and the county where take occurred.
    Population control. Our regulations at 50 CFR 21.61 establish a 
managed take program to reduce and stabilize resident Canada goose 
populations when traditional and otherwise authorized management 
measures are not successful or feasible. A State or tribal wildlife 
agency in the Atlantic, Mississippi, or Central Flyway may request 
approval for this population control program. If approved, the State or 
tribe may use hunters to harvest resident Canada geese during the month 
of August. Requests for approval must include a discussion of the 
State's or tribe's efforts to address its injurious situations using 
other methods, or a discussion of the reasons why the methods are not 
feasible. If the Service Director approves a request, the State or 
tribe must (1) keep annual records of activities carried out under the 
authority of the program, and (2) provide an annual summary, including 
number of individuals participating in the program and the number of 
resident Canada geese shot. Additionally, participating States and 
tribes must monitor the spring breeding population by providing an 
annual estimate of the breeding population and distribution of resident 
Canada geese in their State.
    Our regulations at 50 CFR 21.49, 21.50, 21.51, and 21.52 require 
that persons or entities operating under the depredation and control 
orders must immediately report the take of any species protected under 
the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This information ensures that the 
incidental take limits authorized under section 7 of the ESA are not 
exceeded.

Comments Received and Our Responses

    On August 18, 2015, we published in the Federal Register (80 FR 
50021) a notice of our intent to request that OMB renew approval for 
this information collection. In that notice, we solicited comments for 
60 days, ending on October 19, 2015. We received one comment. The 
commenter objected to the taking of Canada geese, but did not address 
the information collection requirements. We did not make any changes to 
our requirements as a result of this comment.

Request for Public Comments

    We again 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. 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 OMB and us in your comment to withhold your personal 
identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that it 
will be done.

    Dated: December 1, 2015.
Tina A. Campbell,
Chief, Division of Policy, Performance, and Management Programs, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-30696 Filed 12-4-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P