2015-12052. Proposed Information Collection; National Initiative To Understand and Connect Americans and Nature

AGENCY:

Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice; request for comments.

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. 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 July 20, 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 [e-mail] (email). Please include “1018-New” in the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request additional information about this IC, contact Hope Grey at [e-mail] (email) or 703-358-2482 (telephone).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

Nature and the outdoors have always been an important part of the fabric of American life. But, there are major questions about the present and future role of nature and the outdoors in our increasingly diverse, technologically oriented, and rapidly changing society. For our programs to remain relevant to American life today and tomorrow, we must be aware of public sentiment toward the part nature plays in the quality of our lifestyles.

It is for these reasons that we plan to use a quantitative survey to collect: Information on the attitudes that the public maintains towards the natural environment; the effects of contact with nature on participants' health and quality of life; the extent of contact with nature and obstacles to greater contact with nature; general knowledge of nature and wildlife; concerns toward selected environmental issues; and socio-demographic variables. Results will help improve the design and delivery of new or existing programs aimed at engaging the public in nature-related activities (e.g., outreach and educational programming at national wildlife refuges and national fish hatcheries).

II. Data

OMB Control Number: 1018-New.

Title: National Initiative to Understand and Connect Americans and Nature.

Service Form Number: None.

Type of Request: Request for a new OMB control number.

Description of Respondents: Individuals.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

Frequency of Collection: One time.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 8,950.

Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 8,950.

Completion Time per Response: 20 minutes.

Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 2,983.

Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.

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: May 13, 2015.

Tina A. Campbell,

Chief, Division of Policy, Performance, and Management Programs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.