[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17865-17868]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-05184]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-HQ-NWRS-2024-N008; FXRS126109HD000-245-FF09R23000; OMB Control 
Number 1018-New]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget; Programmatic Clearance for U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service Social Science Research

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are proposing a new 
information collection.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
April 11, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be submitted within 30 days of 
publication of this notice at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting 
``Currently under Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the 
search function. Please provide a copy of your comments to the Service 
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-
3803 (mail); or by email to [email protected]. Please reference ``1018-
USFWS Programmatic'' in the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Madonna Baucum, Service Information 
Collection Clearance Officer, by email at [email protected], or by 
telephone at (703) 358-2503. Individuals in the United States who are 
deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 
711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay 
services. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay 
services offered within their country to make international calls to 
the point-of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), we 
provide the general public and other Federal agencies with an 
opportunity to comment on new, proposed, revised, and continuing 
collections of information. This helps us assess the impact of our 
information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting 
burden. It also helps the public understand our information collection 
requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format.
    On October 2, 2023, we published in the Federal Register (88 FR 
67792) a notice of our intent to request that OMB approve this 
information collection. In that notice, we solicited comments for 60 
days, ending on December 1, 2023. In an effort to increase public 
awareness of, and participation in, our public commenting processes 
associated with information collection requests (ICRs), the Service 
also published the Federal Register notice on Regulations.gov (Docket 
No. FWS-HQ-NWRS-2023-0126). We received five comments (described below) 
in response to that notice:
    Comments 1 and 2: Two comments objected to collecting information 
from specific populations and the effectiveness of survey's information 
collection tools.
    Agency Response to Comments 1 and 2: Input from a variety of 
populations and recreation groups is critical to a robust understanding 
of potential impacts from management, planning, and policy decisions. 
Information collection and understanding social landscapes help the 
Service better meet its mission of working with others to conserve, 
protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for 
the continuing benefit of the American People. The agency took no 
action to unilaterally exclude public input from certain recreation 
groups or prevent stakeholder input as a tool to inform decisions.
    Comment 3: One comment was about the appropriate use of animals for 
hunting, fishing, and trapping.
    Agency Response to Comment 3: The agency took no action from this 
comment, as it is unrelated to the information collection.
    Comments 4 and 5: Two comments were supportive the use of 
information collection to better understand customers. One of these 
comments also discussed methods to improve inclusivity and reduce 
agency burden with the use of technology.
    Agency Response to Comments 4 and 5: The agency appreciates support 
of its efforts and suggestions to improve information collection. When 
appropriate, individual information collections may include methods 
such

[[Page 17866]]

as online data collection or QR code recruitment. As noted in comment 
5, it may be more difficult to reach certain populations, and reaching 
these populations may necessitate the use of sampling methods such as 
in-person recruitment. The agency took no action, as each information 
collection submitted through this clearance will be evaluated if 
sampling methods appropriately reach the population of interest.
    On April 17, 2020, we published in the Federal Register (85 FR 
21450) a notice of our intent to request that OMB approve this 
information collection. In that notice, we solicited comments for 60 
days, ending on June 16, 2020. We did not receive any comments in 
response to that notice.
    On October 12, 2016, we published in the Federal Register (81 FR 
70437) a notice of our intent to request that OMB approve this 
information collection. In that notice, we solicited comments for 60 
days, ending on December 12, 2016. We received three nonsubstantive 
comments in response to that notice which did not address the 
information collection comments. No responses were required to those 
comments.
    As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent 
burdens, we invite the public and other Federal agencies to comment on 
new, proposed, revised, and continuing collections of information. This 
helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements 
and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps the public 
understand our information collection requirements and provide the 
requested data in the desired format.
    We are especially interested in public comment addressing the 
following:
    (1) Whether or not the collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether or not the information will have practical utility;
    (2) The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this collection 
of information, including the validity of the methodology and 
assumptions used;
    (3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (4) How might the agency minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., 
permitting electronic submission of response.
    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 ICR. 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.
    Abstract: Monitoring and evaluating U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service) activities, including the activities of the National Wildlife 
Refuge System (Refuge System), is an essential component of strategic 
and adaptive management. The collection of information is necessary to 
enable the Service to garner customer and stakeholder feedback in an 
efficient, timely manner, in accordance with our commitment to improved 
service delivery and customer experience. In particular, collection of 
information and rigorous social science inquiries are necessary for the 
Service to fulfil the goals of the President's Executive Order (E.O.) 
14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad; the principles 
of the Service's community-focused Urban Wildlife Conservation Program; 
a commitment to serving a broader and more diverse public; and a better 
understanding of the needs and perspectives of Tribal Nations and 
Native communities.
    The proposed programmatic clearance would cover social science 
surveys, interviews, and focus groups designed to provide information 
to Service managers and practitioners to improve quality and utility of 
agency programs, services, and planning efforts. To ensure continuous 
improvement, Service activities and projects require ongoing systematic 
assessment of their design, implementation, and outcomes. Data from 
collections undertaken through the proposed programmatic clearance 
would provide information for planning, monitoring, and evaluating 
Refuge System efforts, as well as efforts of other Service programs. 
The scope of this programmatic clearance includes individual surveys; 
focus groups; and interviews of refuge visitors, potential visitors, 
residents of communities near Service-managed units, and stakeholders 
and partners, including Tribal interests.
    The President's E.O. 14008 sets the goal of conserving ``at least 
30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030,'' through the Conserving 
and Restoring America the Beautiful campaign. A collaborative approach 
is needed to achieve the principles for locally led efforts and better 
understand the patterns and trends occurring across public lands and 
waters. The Service's national visitor survey is one approach to 
collecting information from the public related to visitation across the 
Refuge System. The national visitor survey seeks to understand the 
recreation trends and experiences of visitors at refuges to better 
manage for future visitation that aligns with national conservation 
goals. One of the recommendations for early focus and progress in the 
America the Beautiful campaign is the increase of access to outdoor 
recreation, a management objective that the monitoring data from the 
visitor survey can help to inform.
    The Service's Urban Wildlife Conservation program (Urban program) 
was established as a means to engage with urban communities more 
meaningfully in fish and wildlife conservation. It enumerates 
designation criteria for urban wildlife refuges (urban refuges), 
partnerships, and bird treaty cities, and describes how the standards 
of excellence apply to urban refuges and other urban activities. The 
Urban program aligns particularly well with the Department of the 
Interior's focus on equity and environmental justice, work that helps 
to achieve one of the President's Four Pillars (Racial Equity). Another 
recommendation outlined in the Conserving and Restoring America the 
Beautiful campaign includes creating safe outdoor opportunities in 
nature-deprived communities, a goal of which the Urban program is 
helping to achieve.
    The Service is required to ``evaluate and adapt'' the practices of 
the Urban program through internal review of the urban entities by the 
Division of Visitor Services and Communications every 5 years, 
including an expanded visitor services review for the Urban Refuges as 
per Policy 110 FW 1. The Division ``must analyze the people they are 
reaching and conduct approved visitor use surveys to monitor the 
changes and track audience engagement.'' In addition, the Service is 
committed to evaluating progress and measuring success of the Urban 
Program's standards of excellence, such as ``know and relate to the 
community; connect urban residents with nature through the 
steppingstones of engagement; and ensure visitors feel safe and 
welcome.''
    The Service's Human Dimensions (HD) Branch, programmatically 
aligned within the National Wildlife Refuge System, will serve as the 
office of control for the programmatic clearance.

[[Page 17867]]

The role of the HD Branch is to build conservation social science 
understanding, capacity, and integration within the Service. A suite of 
questions will serve as the basis for all information collections under 
this programmatic clearance. The suite of questions will be used to 
develop surveys to respond to the above-named Presidential Priorities 
as well as adaptively ensure improved customer experience and 
satisfaction. As the office of control, the HD branch ICR Coordinator 
will conduct the necessary quality control, including assuring that 
each survey instrument comports with the guidelines of the programmatic 
clearance.
    We developed the following topic areas within the suite of 
questions to streamline the ICR process:
    (1) Respondent Characteristics (e.g., demographics, land and 
property characteristics, and visits to other public lands). This topic 
area allows us to understand customer demographic profiles and track 
visitation trends more holistically over time.
    (2) Communication (e.g., languages spoken, sources of information 
used, and use of social media and other web-based outlets). This topic 
area allows us to understand customer preferences for finding 
information.
    (3) Trip Planning and Logistics (e.g., purpose of trip, information 
on wayfinding used, and various trip characteristics). This topic area 
allows us to understand the logistics and information involved with a 
customer's trip planning experience and make strategic transportation 
decisions.
    (4) Recreation Activities, Experiences, and Preferences (e.g., 
recreation activity preferences, experience, and satisfaction). This 
topic area allows us to better why customers visit, understand 
preferences for wildlife-dependent recreation, and provide a quality 
customer experiences at specific sites.
    (5) Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs (e.g., understanding and 
opinions around nature, the outdoors, climate change, and the agency). 
This topic area allows us to improve future programming and 
communications with customers.
    (6) Resource Management Perceptions and Preferences (e.g., 
attitudes around resource protection, transportation needs, and other 
management decisions). This topic area allows us to understand current 
customer perceptions and anticipate how customers would most likely 
react to future management actions.
    (7) Visitor Expenditures and Economic Inputs (e.g., trip expenses, 
information on local businesses, and landowner contributions). This 
topic area allows us to gather economic data related to conservation 
goals of the agency.
    (8) Public, Stakeholder, and Partner Engagement (e.g., 
participation in programs, partnerships, and various conservation 
actions). This topic area allows us to understand if and how the 
customer dedicates their time to conservation-related actions.
    (9) Program Evaluation (e.g., learning outcomes, program experience 
rating, and satisfaction). This topic area allows us to better assess 
overall program outcomes and performance to improve future programming.
    To qualify for the generic programmatic review process, each 
individual collection under this programmatic clearance must be well 
defined in terms of its sample or respondent pool and research 
methodology, it should clearly fit within the overall plan and scope of 
the approved ICR, and the survey questions must show a clear tie to 
Service management needs. Individual collections may not raise any 
controversial policy issues, include topics of significant public 
interest, or go beyond the methods specified and approved by OMB in 
this programmatic ICR. Any individual collection that requests 
nonagency goal-related data or information on controversial topics 
would be inappropriate for expedited review under this programmatic 
clearance and must go through the full PRA clearance process to solicit 
public feedback. In instances where HD Branch staff are involved with 
the development of the individual information collection, other 
uninvolved staff in the HD Branch or a member of the ICR review team 
would review the ICR.
    We will obtain OMB approval of all individual survey submissions 
developed using the pre-approved suite of questions before the survey 
can be initiated. If, after consultation with the principal 
investigator, the ICR coordinator recommends a proposed survey for 
approval, both the Service and Departmental Information Collection 
Clearance Officers will review the ICR before it is formally 
transmitted to OMB for review and approval.
    Title of Collection: Programmatic Clearance for U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service Social Science Research.
    OMB Control Number: 1018-New.
    Form Number: None.
    Type of Review: New.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Persons visiting units managed by the 
Service; potential visitors, including ``virtual visitors'' who access 
content from a Service website; local community members; educators 
taking part in programs both on and off Service lands; government 
officials representing the local area; landowners; partners; 
stakeholders; and Tribal interests.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Frequency of Collection: On occasion.
    Total Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.

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                                                                             Annual estimates
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
                          Mode                                               Completion time
                                                             Number of         per response     Burden hours **
                                                            respondents       (avg. minutes)
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On-site, mail, internet surveys *......................             20,333                 20              6,778
Telephone surveys......................................                833                 25                347
All nonresponse surveys................................                784                  5                 65
Focus groups/in-person interviews......................                 59                 60                 59
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
    Annual Total.......................................             22,009  .................              7,249
        3-Year Total...................................             66,027  .................             21,747
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* Includes 2-minute contact time for some surveys, interviews, and focus groups, and approximately 2,500
  electronic surveys.
** All figures are rounded.

    An agency 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.

[[Page 17868]]

    The authority for this action is the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

Madonna Baucum,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-05184 Filed 3-11-24; 8:45 am]
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