[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 119 (Monday, June 22, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33948-33950]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-16495]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Sixty-Day Notice of Intention To Request Clearance of
Information; Opportunity for Public Comment
AGENCY: Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this
notice announces the National Park Service's (NPS') intention to
request approval of nine information collections to be carried out
pursuant to the Government Productivity and Results Act and the NPS
Strategic Plan. Seven of the proposed information collections are
surveys of customer satisfaction with certain NPS programs and types of
assistance. The other two collections seek information on the number of
historic properties designated as such and/or protected by State and
local governments that have an official partnership with NPS. The
information sought through these nine efforts is not currently
collected elsewhere.
NPS' National Center for Recreation and Conservation is proposing
to conduct annual mail surveys of the clients of five recreation and
conservation assistance programs to assess client satisfaction with the
services received and to identify needed program improvements. The NPS
goal in conducting these surveys is to use the survey information to
identify areas of strength and weakness in its recreation and
conservation assistance programs, to provide an information base for
improving those programs, and to provide a required performance
measurement (Goal IIIb1 of the 1997 National Park Service Strategic
Plan) under the Government Performance and Results Act.
NPS' National Center for Cultural Resources, Stewardship, and
Partnerships is proposing to collect information on customer
satisfaction with technical assistance publications (using response
cards) and technical training, conferences, etc. through responses to
training evaluation questions. The National Center for Cultural
Resources, Stewardship, and Partnerships also is proposing to collect
information on the number of historic properties officially designated
and/or protected at the State and local governmental level
respectively. The historic property information will be collected from
State Historic Preservation Offices and Certified Local Governments
(CLGs). CLGs are local governments that have an official historic
preservation partnership agreement with their State and NPS pursuant to
the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended. The NPS goal in
collecting this information is to assist in the evaluation of NPS'
historic preservation partnership program effectiveness in achieving
the historic preservation results sought and specified in Goals IIIa1,
IIIa2, and IIIa3 of the 1997 National Park Service Strategic Plan
produced pursuant to the Government Performance and Results Act.
Under provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 5 CFR
Part 1320, Reporting and Record Keeping Requirements, the National Park
Service is soliciting comments on the need for all nine information
collections. The NPS also is asking for comments on the practical
utility of the information being gathered; the accuracy of the burden
hour estimate; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and ways to minimize the burden to
respondents, including use of automated information collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
DATES: Public comments will be accepted on or before August 21, 1998.
SEND COMMENTS TO: Diane M. Cooke, Information Collection Clearance
Office, WASO Administrative Program Center, National Park Service, 1849
C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Rob Campellone--Voice: 202-565-1198,
Email: rob__campellone@nps.gov>--for further information regarding the
surveys related to Recreation and Conservation Assistance customer
satisfaction.
Contact Stephen Newman--Voice: 292-343-9577, Email:
[email protected]__for further information regarding the
questionnaires related to historic preservation technical assistance
customer satisfaction.
Contact John Renaud--Voice: 202-343-1059, Email:
[email protected] further information regarding the
collection of data on the number of historic properties designated or
protected at the State and local government level.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Titles: National Park Service Partnership Programs' GPRA
Information Collections; Recreation and Conservation Assistance
Customer Satisfaction Survey, Historic Preservation Technical
Assistance Customer Satisfaction Questionnaires, Historic Properties
Designated or Protected By State Government Partners, and Historic
Properties Designated or Protected By Local Government Partners
Bureau Form Number: None.
OMB Number: To be requested.
Expiration Date: To be requested.
Type of request: Request for new clearance.
Description of need: The Government Productivity and Results Act
requires Federal agencies to prepare annual performance report
documenting the
[[Page 33949]]
progress made toward achieving long-term goals. The National Park
Service needs the information in the proposed collections to assess the
annual progress being made toward meeting Long-term Goals IIIa1, IIIa2,
IIIa3, and IIIb1 of the National Park Service Strategic Plan of 1997.
The information sought is not collected elsewhere by the Federal
Government. The proposed information collections impose no data
collection or recordkeeping burden on the potential respondents.
Responding to the proposed collections is voluntary and is based on
data that the respondents already collect and/or personal opinion.
The National Park Service needs information to help evaluate and
improve its recreation and conservation assistance programs and its
historic preservation programs.
Automated data collection and statistical sampling: NPS is
exploring means to supplement hard copy information with electronic
submittal and/or sampling. Total automation would have the potential to
skew the results because many potential respondents do not have the
ability to respond electronically. NPS intends to test Internet and e-
mail submittal for some of the information collections. The results of
the initial rounds of these information collections will help to
determine the suitability of automation, electronic submittal, and
sampling in terms of quality control and in terms of confidence in
making extrapolations from the responses available.
Description of respondents: The type of respondents will vary as
follows depending upon the information collection.
For the Recreation and Conservation Assistance Customer
Satisfaction Surveys, the potential respondents will be all principal
contact persons of principal cooperating organizations and agencies
which have received substantial assistance from any of the five
participating programs during the prior Fiscal Year (October 1 through
September 30).
For the Historic Preservation Technical Assistance Customer
Satisfaction Questionnaires, the potential respondents will be any
recipient of a NPS historic preservation technical assistance
publication (an estimated 30,000 distributed annually) and any person
receiving NPS historic preservation technical assistance information in
a course, workshop, conference, etc. (an estimated 5,000 participants
annually).
For collecting information on the number of Historic Properties
Designated or Protected By State Government Partners, the potential
respondents will be 56 State Historic Preservation Offices. There is
one State Historic Preservation Office for each State, Territory, etc.
defined as a State by the National Historic Preservation Act, as
amended.
For collecting information on the number of Historic Properties
designated or Protected By Local Government Partners, the potential
respondents will be the Certified Local Governments (CLGs). A CLG is a
local government that has executed a formal agreement with its State
Historic Preservation Office and NPS and thereby has committed itself
to carry out the historic preservation responsibilities specified by
the National Historic Preservation Act for participants in the CLG
program. There will be an estimated 1,300 CLGs by the end of the
approval period being sought for this information collection.
Estimated average number of respondents: 36,845. See the chart
below for a breakdown by each information collection.
Estimated average number of responses: 9,974. See the chart below
for a breakdown by each information collection.
Estimated average burden hours per response: 2.78 minutes. See the
chart below for a breakdown by each information collection.
Frequency of Response: Various. For the Historic Preservation
Technical Assistance Customer Satisfaction Questionnaires, the
frequency of response is one time per publication or technical
assistance event. For the other seven proposed information collections
the frequency of response is one time per respondent per year.
Estimated annual reporting burden: 464 hours. See the chart below
for a breakdown by each information collection.
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Estimated number of:
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Information collection Average time Total hours
Respondents Responses per response
(in minutes)
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Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance
Program........................................ 250 250 10 42
Federal Lands to Parks Program.................. 100 100 10 17
Long Distance Trails Program.................... 125 125 10 21
Heritage Areas Program.......................... 10 10 10 2
Wild and Scenic Rivers Coordination Program..... 4 4 10 1
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Subtotal.................................... 489 489 10 83
Historic Preservation Technical Assistance
Publications Customer Satisfaction............. 30,000 4,500 2 150
Historic Preservation Technical Assistance
Training (etc.) Customer Satisfaction.......... 5,000 4,500 2 150
Historic Properties Designated or Protected by
State Partners................................. 56 56 10 9
Historic Properties Designated or Protected by
CLG Partners................................... 1,300 429 10 72
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Subtotal.................................... 36,356 9,485 2.41 381
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Grand Total................................. 36,845 9,974 2.78 464
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[[Page 33950]]
Diane M. Cooke,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, WASO Administrative Program
Center, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 98-16495 Filed 6-19-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-M
