2011-17126. Information Collection Sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Approval; Monitoring Recovered Species After Delisting-American Peregrine Falcon

AGENCY:

Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice; request for comments.

SUMMARY:

We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) have sent an Information Collection Request (ICR) to OMB for review and approval. We summarize the ICR below and describe the nature of the collection and the estimated burden and cost. This information collection is scheduled to expire on July 31, 2011. 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. However, under OMB regulations, we may continue to conduct or sponsor this information collection while it is pending at OMB.

DATES:

You must submit comments on or before August 8, 2011.

ADDRESSES:

Send your comments and suggestions on this information collection to the Desk Officer for the Department of the Interior at OMB-OIRA at [phone] (fax) or [e-mail] (e-mail). Please provide a copy of your comments to the Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS 2042-PDM, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203 (mail), or [e-mail] (e-mail). Please include “1018-0101” in the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request additional information about this ICR, contact Hope Grey at [e-mail] (e-mail) or 703-358-2482 (telephone). You may review the ICR online at http://www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to review Department of the Interior collections under review by OMB.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

OMB Control Number: 1018-0101.

Title: Monitoring Recovered Species After Delisting—American Peregrine Falcon.

Service Form Number(s): 3-2307, 3-2308, and 3-2309.

Type of Request: Extension of currently approved collection.

Description of Respondents: Professional biologists employed by State agencies and other organizations, and volunteers that have been involved in past peregrine falcon conservation efforts.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

Frequency of Collection: On occasion. Monitoring is conducted every 3 years. For eggs and feathers, 15 to 20 of each are collected over a period of no more than 5 years.

Estimated Nonhour Cost Burden: We estimate the total nonhour burden cost to be $156.00 for expenses incurred when contaminants samples must be shipped to designated labs for analysis and storage.

Activity	Number of respondents	Number of responses	Completion time per response (hours)	Total annual burden hours
FWS Form 3-2307	71	639	2.5	1,598
FWS Form 3-2308	8	8	2.5	20
FWS Form 3-2309	8	8	2.5	20
Totals	87	655		1,638

Abstract: This information collection implements requirements of the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) (ESA). There are no corresponding Service regulations for the ESA post-delisting monitoring requirement. This IC also implements the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 704) and Service regulations in chapter I, subchapter B of title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

The American peregrine falcon was removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife on August 25, 1999 (64 FR 46542). Section 4(g) of the ESA requires that all species that are recovered and removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (delisted) be monitored in cooperation with the States for a period of not less than 5 years. The purpose of this requirement is to detect any failure of a recovered species to sustain itself without the protections of the ESA. We work with relevant State agencies and other species experts to develop appropriate plans and procedures for systematically monitoring recovered wildlife and plants.

The American peregrine falcon has a large geographic distribution that includes a substantial amount of non-Federal land. Although the ESA requires that monitoring of recovered species be conducted for not less than 5 years, the life history of American peregrine falcons is such that it is appropriate to monitor this species for a longer period of time in order to meaningfully evaluate whether or not the recovered species continues to maintain its recovered status. The Monitoring Plan for the American Peregrine Falcon is available on our Web site at http://library.fws.gov/​pubs1/​peregrine03.pdf. Formal collection of monitoring data commenced in 2003. Rangewide population monitoring of American peregrine falcons under the Monitoring Plan will take place every 3 years through 2015.

We will use the information supplied on FWS Forms 3-2307, 3-2308, and 3-2309 to review the status of the American peregrine falcon in the United States and determine if it remains recovered and, therefore, does not require the protections of the ESA:

(1) FWS Form 3-2307 (Peregrine Falcon Monitoring Form) addresses the reporting requirements to record observations on the nesting pair, and the numbers of eggs and young during each nest visit. Each territory will be visited at least two times.

(2) FWS Form 3-2308 (Peregrine Falcon Egg Contaminants Data Sheet) addresses the reporting requirements to record data on eggs collected opportunistically during a nest visit.

(3) FWS Form 3-2309 (Peregrine Falcon Feather Contaminants Data Sheet) addresses the reporting requirements to record data on feathers collected opportunistically during a nest visit. Once collected, the eggs and feathers are archived in a deep freeze for analysis at a later time.

Comments: On March 28, 2011, we published in the Federal Register (76 FR 17147) a notice of our intent to request that OMB renew approval for this information collection. In that notice, we solicited comments for 60 days, ending on May 27, 2011. We received one comment. The commenter stated that the peregrine falcon should not have been removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, but did not address the information collection requirements or the burden estimates. We have not made any changes to our information collection requirements.

We again 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. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail 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 OMB in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that it will be done.

Dated: July 1, 2011.

Tina A. Campbell,

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