[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 209 (Monday, October 31, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65622-65624]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-23593]


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OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY


Framing the National Nature Assessment

AGENCY: Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

ACTION: Notice of request for information.

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SUMMARY: Nature is important in its own right, and provides value to 
the lives of all Americans. To increase our knowledge of nature in the 
United States and its links to global change, the Office of Science and 
Technology Policy (OSTP), on behalf of the United States Global Change 
Research Program (USGCRP), requests input from the public to help 
inform the framing, development, and eventual use of the first National 
Nature Assessment (NNA). USGCRP committed to conducting a National 
Nature Assessment on April 8, 2022, under the authority of the Global 
Change Research Act of 1990. President Biden reinforced and elevated 
the

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importance of this assessment to a matter of national policy by calling 
for it in Executive Order 14072 (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/04/27/2022-09138/strengthening-the-nations-forests-communities-and-local-economies) on Strengthening the Nation's Forests, 
Communities and Local Economies (April 22, 2022). This request for 
information (RFI) will inform USGCRP as it develops this first-of-its-
kind assessment.

DATES: Responses are due by March 31, 2023. Responses will be 
considered throughout the comment period, as they are received.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be submitted electronically via: https://contribute.globalchange.gov/.
    Instructions: Response to this RFI is voluntary. Respondents need 
not reply to all questions listed. Each individual or institution is 
requested to submit only one response. Please identify your answers by 
responding to a specific question or topic. Respondents may answer as 
many or as few questions as they wish. Comments of seven pages or fewer 
(3,500 words or equivalent) are strongly recommended. Links to 
comparable-scale multi-media input maybe submitted for consideration.
    USGCRP seeks to create a National Nature Assessment that is broadly 
relevant and provides useful information on nature to all people living 
or residing in the United States. In that spirit, we encourage all 
members of the public who are interested in this initiative to submit 
their comments. Those interested may include any member of the public 
of any age, culture, background, level of education or career stage. 
There may also be interested organizations, such as Tribal Nations or 
Indigenous Peoples, scientific research or practitioner organizations, 
any state, local or territorial governments, any non-profit 
organizations, any private companies, any philanthropic organizations, 
and any others. USGCRP is interested in personal narrative and 
experience; Indigenous Knowledge; local knowledge and lived experience; 
and technical, legal, and scientific content or research from any 
discipline.
    USGCRP will not provide direct responses to comments. This RFI is 
not accepting applications for financial assistance or financial 
incentives. Comments submitted in response to this notice may be 
subject to public release under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 
Responses to this RFI may be posted without change online. USGCRP 
therefore requests that no proprietary information, copyrighted 
information, or personally identifiable information be submitted in 
response to this RFI. Please note that the United States Government 
will not pay for response preparation, or for the use of any 
information contained in a response. In accordance with FAR 15-202(3), 
responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the 
U.S. Government to form a binding contract.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Avery, (202) 419-3474, 
[email protected], U.S. Global Change Research Program. Individuals who 
use telecommunication devices for the deaf and hard of hearing (TDD) 
may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339, 24 hours a 
day, every day of the year, including holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: USGCRP coordinates research across 13 
Federal agencies to understand the human-induced and natural processes 
that influence the total Earth system--the atmosphere, land, water, 
ecosystems, and people. USGCRP was established by Presidential 
Initiative in 1989 and mandated by Congress in the Global Change 
Research Act (GCRA) of 1990 (Sec 104, Pub. L. 101-606; https://www.globalchange.gov/about/legal-mandate).
    USGCRP has stated that the National Nature Assessment (NNA) is an 
assessment of nature in the United States. Existing reports and 
assessments provide partial views of changes in nature and how they 
affect the nation, but the United States lacks comprehensive knowledge 
on these major aspects of global change. The NNA will assess the 
status, observed trends, and future projections of America's lands, 
waters, wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystems and the benefits they 
provide, including connections to the economy, public health, equity, 
climate mitigation and adaptation, and national security. The NNA 
considers nature in US states, marine areas (exclusive economic zone), 
territories, Native or Indigenous lands and waters, and other 
affiliated areas (as appropriate), as well as its significant 
interactions with global changes. In the creation of the NNA, USGCRP is 
also abiding by the following principles, to create an assessment that 
is:

 Authoritative, credible, timely, and concise
 Fully compliant with relevant laws and policies
 Policy relevant but not policy prescriptive
 Transparent, accurate and reproducible with well-documented 
methods
 Inclusive
 Use-inspired
 Accessible to the widest possible audience

    We invite members of the public to share perspectives on how the 
scope and principles set forth should be addressed in the NNA. USGCRP 
seeks responses to any or all of the questions that follow.

Questions To Inform Development of a Use-Inspired Assessment

    USGCRP will follow the principles of creating a use-inspired NNA, 
where the design is driven by the potential uses of the final products. 
In order to create such an assessment, USGCRP needs to understand the 
potential users of the NNA, what uses they could have for the NNA, and 
how they can most easily and effectively engage with the knowledge 
developed, synthesized, and communicated by the NNA. USGCRP seeks 
responses to any or all of the following questions to gain better 
understanding of how to create a use-inspired NNA:
    1. Assessments can be tailored to inform a wide range of audiences. 
For example, assessments can be created for use by the general public, 
government decision makers (at any scale from Federal to state to 
local, territorial or Tribal), researchers and practitioners, non-
profit organizations, private sector companies, individuals, different 
generational groups, or other audiences. Who are the key audiences for, 
or users of, the NNA? Who should find the information that the NNA 
provides useful?
    2. USGCRP understands that creation of a use-inspired assessment 
will require ongoing engagement with the potential users of the NNA. 
This RFI is one of the first ways USGCRP is reaching out to potential 
users.
    a. What engagement processes should be used so that the audiences 
identified above are best able to participate in the development 
process?
    b. What forms or formats of engagement (e.g., in-person town hall 
meetings, virtual conversations, community workshops, social media 
events, calls for stories or art) are likely to help USGCRP meet its 
principle of inclusivity and best inform the assessment?
    3. Use-inspired assessments are tailored to their intended use.
    a. What decisions should the NNA help inform, and what information 
is needed for those decisions?
    b. What needs can the assessment fill, and how should information 
be provided to fill them?

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    c. What questions should the NNA answer? What do you wish you knew 
about nature in the United States?
    4. The scope of the NNA includes assessment of the observed trends 
and future projections of nature and the benefits it provides to 
people. Given this:
    a. How far back in time should the NNA explore observed trends, and 
why?
    b. What kinds of questions about the future should the NNA aim to 
answer? How far into the future should projections extend, and why?
    c. What types of future scenarios would best support the 
recommended uses (e.g. quantitative time series, directional changes, 
stories)?
    5. Assessments can create a wide variety of products that help 
users access, understand and use the information that is provided. 
These can include large written reports, a series of shorter reports, 
online interactive settings, artistic expressions (paintings, poems, 
etc.), infographics, virtual or augmented reality tools, phone or 
tablet apps, presentations, data resources, films, podcasts, social 
media, events, entertainment products, and many others.
    a. What kinds of products can best communicate the findings of the 
NNA?
    b. How would you like to use the findings of the NNA?
    6. Past assessments have used various approaches to organizing 
findings. Some give information for each region of the country (e.g., 
findings for the southeast, northwest, southwest, the Arctic). Others 
give information for different types of ecosystems (e.g., kelp forest, 
desert, temperate forest) or levels of ecological organization (e.g., 
species, communities, ecosystems). Still others organize findings for 
specific audiences (e.g., government, businesses, land owners, resource 
users like fishers, hunters, hikers), or specific decision-making 
contexts (e.g., NEPA requirements, corporate ESG reporting, financial 
risk disclosure, research prioritization). The NNA is tasked to assess 
the connections between nature and the benefits it provides, and so 
findings could also be organized by benefit (e.g., public health, 
equity, economy) or by sector (e.g., agriculture, transportation, 
health, housing, energy).
    a. Given that the scope of the NNA is quite broad, how should 
information in the assessment be organized?
    b. What format would best match the ways you think the NNA should 
be used?

Questions To Inform a Definition of Nature

    The guidance provided by USGCRP asks the NNA to assess lands, 
waters, wildlife, biodiversity, and ecosystems and the benefits they 
provide, including connections to the economy, public health, equity, 
climate mitigation and adaptation, and national security. USGCRP is 
aware that there are many different definitions of nature and many ways 
of coming to know and understand nature. With this in mind, USGCRP 
seeks responses to the following questions:
    7. What does nature mean to you?
    8. What should the definition of nature used in the NNA be sure to 
address or include, and why?
    9. What should the definition of nature used in the NNA be sure to 
leave out or exclude, and why?

Questions To Inform Identification of Relevant Knowledge Sources

    10. Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is an important body of knowledge 
that contributes to the scientific, technical, social, and economic 
advancements of the United States and to our collective understanding 
of the natural world. Responsive to this recognition:
    a. How can USGCRP best engage with Tribes and Indigenous Peoples in 
the development of the NNA?
    b. How should IK be woven together with other forms of knowing in 
the NNA?
    11. There are many ongoing assessments, and existing quantitative 
and qualitative data and knowledge that relate to the many aspects of 
nature and the wide range of benefits the NNA is charged to assess. 
These sources may be generated by government agencies, Tribes and 
Indigenous Peoples, colleges and universities, local communities, non-
profit organizations, the international community, the private sector, 
and others.
    a. What existing assessments and knowledge efforts should the NNA 
draw from to provide a comprehensive view of the status, observed 
trends and future projections of nature and its benefits in the United 
States, and why?
    b. How can USGCRP best engage with local communities to incorporate 
their lived experiences into the NNA?
    c. What existing datasets, knowledge sources, information or 
stories should USGCRP draw from in creating the NNA, and why?
    d. How should the NNA be designed to add value beyond what these 
existing efforts and sources already provide?

Public Engagement Plans

    Opportunities for public engagement to inform NNA will be presented 
throughout its development. The following planned public engagement 
schedule is presented to notify the public of these coming 
opportunities. The specific timing of these engagement efforts will 
depend upon feedback from this RFI and how the NNA is developed based 
on that information. However, the NNA currently plans the following 
public engagement plans at a minimum, regardless of what other 
engagement opportunities may become available in the future.

 Public comment on NNA draft prospectus
 Public engagement workshops and webinars
 Public calls for authors
 Public comment on drafts of assessment products, as 
appropriate
 Peer review of assessment products, as appropriate

    All are invited to participate in these public engagement 
opportunities to ensure robust public input to NNA. Specific dates and 
locations for all engagements will be provided on www.globalchange.gov/notices as they are determined. Members of the public may also sign up 
to receive updates through USGCRP's bimonthly newsletter at 
www.globalchange.gov/newsletter-signup.

    Dated: October 26, 2022.
Stacy Murphy,
Operations Manager.
[FR Doc. 2022-23593 Filed 10-28-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3270-F1-P