[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 54 (Wednesday, March 22, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14674-14675]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-05653]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Information Collection; Interagency Generic Clearance for Federal 
Land Management Agencies Collaborative Visitor Feedback Surveys on 
Recreation and Transportation Related Programs and Systems

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Forest Service is seeking comments from all interested individuals and 
organizations on the renewal of an information collection, Federal Land 
Management Agencies (FLMAs) Collaborative Visitor Transportation 
Information Collections.

DATES: Comments must be received in writing on or before May 22, 2017 
to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date will 
be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Comments concerning this notice should be addressed to 
Margaret Petrella, The Volpe Center (RVT-321), 55 Broadway Street, 
Cambridge, MA 02142. All responses to this notice will be summarized 
and included in the request for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
approval. All comments will become a matter of public record.
    Comments also may be submitted via facsimile to (617) 494-3522 or 
by email to: [email protected].
    The public may inspect comments received at 55 Broadway Street, 
Cambridge, MA 02142 in Room 3-67 during normal business hours. Visitors 
are encouraged to call ahead to 617-494-3582 to facilitate entry to the 
building.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Margaret Petrella, Social Scientist, 
U.S. Department of Transportation, The Volpe Center, (617) 494-3582.
    Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339 twenty-four 
hours a day, every day of the year, including holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Interagency Generic Clearance for Federal Land Management 
Agencies Collaborative Visitor Feedback Surveys on Recreation and 
Transportation Related Programs and Systems.
    OMB Number: 0596-0236.
    Expiration Date of Approval: November 30, 2017.
    Type of Request: Renewal and revision of currently approved 
collection.
    Abstract: From time to time, individual or combined units or 
subunits of various Federal Land Management Agencies (FLMAs) and/or 
FLMA Research Station units need to acquire direct visitor and 
authorized user feedback about site- or area-specific services, 
facilities, road and/or travel systems, needs, programs, demographics, 
management of FLMA lands, and/or other quantitative information on FLMA 
lands in cross-jurisdictional landscapes. FLMAs include, but are not 
limited to: USDA-Forest Service; National Park Service; Bureau of Land 
Management; US Fish & Wildlife Service; US Geological Survey; US Army 
Corps of Engineers; Presidio Trust and Bureau of Reclamation. This 
direct feedback is vital to establish and/or revise goals and 
objectives for FLMA recreation-related transportation system programs 
to and within FLMA recreation sites/opportunities, to inform land 
management plans, and to facilitate interagency coordination across 
multijurisdictional landscapes, which will better meet the needs of the 
public and the resources under FLMA management.
    The benefits of an FLMA interagency generic Information Collection 
(IC) would include significant public and agency time and cost savings. 
If multiple FLMAs in an area or landscape work jointly on one 
quantitative visitor feedback information collection under a generic 
clearance from OMB, there would be significant savings in government 
time and costs related to survey development and OMB survey approval, 
as well as savings in the costs of survey administration and data 
processing. In particular, the public burden would be diminished as the 
public would only need to respond to one jointly-sponsored survey, 
instead of to multiple similar surveys at multiple units in an area.
    Under the following authorities, the participating FLMAs are 
obligated to actively solicit public input to improve public lands 
management to better serve the public:
    1. Forest Service Administration Organic Act of 1897 [16 U.S.C. 
473-478, 479-482, and 551] as amended by the Transfer Act of 1905 [16 
U.S.C. 472, 524, 554];
    2. Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960 [Pub. L. 86-15, Sec.  
3];
    3. Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources and Planning Act of 
1974 [Pub. L. 93-378 Sec.  3(2,3)] as amended;
    4. National Forest Management Act of 1976 [Pub. L. 94-588, 
Sec. Sec.  2(3), 6(d)], as amended;
    5. Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 [Pub. L. 103-62] 
as amended;
    6. Executive Order 12862 of September 11, 1993;
    7. Executive Order 13571 of April 27, 2011;
    8. Executive Act 12996 of March 25, 1996;
    9. National Park Services Act of 1916;
    10. National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act;
    11. National Wildlife Refuge System Centennial Act [Pub. L. 106-
408];
    12. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976;
    13. General Survey Act of 1824; and
    14. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
    Survey respondents would include visitors and potential visitors to 
FLMA units or subunits, and residents of communities in or near FLMA 
units. Since many of the FLMA surveys are similar in terms of the 
populations being surveyed, the types of questions being asked, the 
research methodologies being used, and the database structures and data 
being utilized, the FLMAs propose a generic Interagency Information 
Collections clearance from OMB to obtain quantitative and/or 
qualitative visitor/user feedback utilizing collection mechanisms such 
as surveys, focus groups, and/or interviews.
    Information collection could occur at one location, several 
locations, across FLMA units, across regions, across the nation, and 
could be multi-jurisdictional at any of these levels. Information 
collection activities could occur once, could occur as iterative 
collections over a limited period of time, or could occur over long 
periods of time at some periodic, planned time interval. Direct visitor 
feedback could be collected through facilitated focus groups or through 
surveys or individual interviews (qualitative or quantitative), with 
either electronically-recorded or hand-written responses, via mail-
back, or via internet, apps, or social media electronic surveys (e.g., 
Quick Response (QR) codes on Smartphones). Survey or interview 
information could be collected at pertinent site(s) or access point(s) 
as visitors arrive or complete their visit(s) or are in the midst of 
their activities; and could be collected pre- or post-visit.
    In general, questions will relate to visitor experience at one or 
more

[[Page 14675]]

specific locations or locales (one FLMA's lands or multi-
jurisdictional) and could address one or more of the following key 
categories, identified as goal areas in FLMA planning documents:
     Mobility and access (for example, different modes used to 
access sites; satisfaction with transportation related services and 
facilities; use and satisfaction with traveler information; reasons for 
non-visitation)
     System management (for example, support for different 
management policies)
     Safety (for example, safety concerns prior or during trip, 
safety-related incidents that occurred)
     Environment (for example, visitor priorities with respect 
to natural and cultural resources; perceptions related to sound)
     Economic development (for example, amount visitors spend 
within the area)
     Visitor/user demographics (for example, home city and 
state, age group, gender, race, number of people/vehicles in party)
     Trip characteristics (for example, length of trip, trip 
purpose, activities and destinations)

To ensure anonymity, if any personally-identifiable information (PII) 
is collected, PII will not be stored with contact information at any 
time, and contact information will be purged from researchers' files 
once data collections are complete.
    Participation in surveys will be strictly voluntary. The 
information could be collected by FLMA personnel, or by private 
contractors, other government agency partners, or universities or other 
educational institutions conducting the information collection on 
behalf of the FLMAs. The data collected would provide managers with 
reliable information to better serve the public, by better-informing 
strategic planning; allocations of physical, fiscal, or human 
resources; modification or refinement of various program management 
goals and objectives or management plan revisions; and future planning 
efforts focused on developing more effective and efficient delivery of 
program services, whether on one or several unit(s) or at an 
interagency, cross-jurisdictional scope. FLMAs may also get requests 
for this kind of information from the general public and/or a variety 
of organizations including Congressional staffs, newspapers, magazines, 
and transportation and/or recreational trade organizations.
    Primary analysis of the information could be conducted by FLMA 
staff or by one or more research station(s), or by private contractors, 
other government agency partners, or universities or other educational 
institutions doing the analyses on behalf of the FLMA. All results will 
be aggregated so specific responses cannot be correlated to specific 
respondents.
    The information collected, including approved survey instruments, 
final reports, and data will be archived in a shared database that can 
be accessed by all FLMAs. In this way, FLMAs will be kept informed 
about the survey efforts of their partner agencies and can use the 
results to inform the development of their own surveys, thus reducing 
the duplication of effort and public burden. In addition, analyzed data 
could be shared among other agencies, stakeholders, educational 
institutions, interested parties, or the public through written or 
electronic reports. FLMA units will use this information to inform 
strategic planning, allocation of resources, revisions of management 
program goals and objectives, revisions of Land Management Plans, and 
long-range planning with statistically-reliable, visitor input data 
necessary to help FLMA units provide their customers with better 
service and coordinate more effectively across jurisdictions.
    Without these joint, coordinated information collections, the FLMAs 
will continue to lack the information necessary to identify and 
implement feasible and publicly-accepted transportation and other 
facility and service improvements to help protect public land resources 
and enhance visitor experience. These joint information collections 
will become ever more important as FLMA budgets continue to shrink and 
demand for access to FLMA recreation sites and opportunities continue 
to grow. These information collections will directly impact FLMA 
resources and visitor experience quality, and help the FLMAs meet their 
various resource, recreation, and transportation management mandates.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: Under a generic IC, the number of 
respondents will differ for each individual survey, depending on the 
purpose and design of each information collection. Therefore, the 
number of respondents is necessarily an estimate. The number of 
responses can be estimated as approximately 70% of the number of 
respondents approached, based on previous administrations of similar 
surveys in various FLMA units. Respondents will be asked to respond 
only one time. Overall, we assume 1200 respondents per survey effort, 
10 respondents per focus group effort, 50 respondents per interview 
effort, and 500 comment cards per comment card effort. The burden of 
time to respond one time will vary, depending on the methodology 
employed. Surveys are estimated at approximately 15 minutes per person, 
based on previous administrations of similar surveys in various FLMA 
units; focus groups are estimated at 90 minutes per person; interviews 
are estimated at 30 minutes each; and comment cards are estimated at 3 
minutes per person.
    Type of Respondents: Visitors or potential visitors to, or 
residents near, lands managed by one FLMA or by multiple FLMAs in 
cross-jurisdictional landscapes (e.g., Bureau of Land Management, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service).
    Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 23,300.
    Estimated Annual Number of Responses per Respondent: One.
    Estimated Burden per Response: 15 minutes (survey); 90 minutes 
(focus group); 30 minutes (interview); 3 minutes (comment card)
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 5,085 hours.

Comment Is Invited

    Comment is invited on:
    (1) Whether this collection of information is necessary for the 
stated purposes and the proper performance of the functions of the 
FLMAs, including whether the information will have practical or 
scientific utility;
    (2) the accuracy of the FLMAs' estimate of the burden of the 
collection of information, including the validity of the assumptions 
used;
    (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or 
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    All comments received in response to this notice, including names 
and addresses when provided, will be a matter of public record. 
Comments will be summarized and included in the submission request 
toward Office of Management and Budget approval.

    Dated: February 24, 2017.
Lenise Lago,
Deputy Chief, Business Operations.
[FR Doc. 2017-05653 Filed 3-21-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3411-15-P