E8-22250. Extension of Approved Information Collection, OMB Control Number 1004-0004

AGENCY:

Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comments.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) requests the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to extend an existing approval to collect information from those persons who submit Form 2520-1 to apply for a desert-land entry to reclaim, irrigate, and cultivate arid and semiarid public lands in the Western United States. The BLM uses this information to determine if the applicant is eligible to make a desert-land entry under the appropriate land entry laws.

DATES:

You must submit your comments to BLM at the address below on or before November 24, 2008. BLM will not necessarily consider any comments postmarked or received after the above date.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments by any of the following methods:

Mail: U.S. Department of the Interior, Director (630), Bureau of Land Management, Mail Stop 401 LS, 1849 C St., NW., (Attention: 1004-0004), Washington, DC 20240.

Personal or messenger delivery: 1620 L Street, NW., Room 401, Washington, DC 20036.

E-mail: [e-mail] (Attn.: 1004-0004)

Comments will be available for public review at the L Street address during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.), Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

You may contact Alzata L. Ransom, Division of Lands, Realty and Cadastral Survey, on [phone] (Commercial or FTS). Persons who use a telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) on 1-800-877-8330, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to contact Ms. Ransom.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

5 CFR 1320.12(a) requires that we provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning a collection of information to solicit comments on:

(a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper functioning of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

(b) The accuracy of our estimates of the information collection burden, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions we use;

(c) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and

(d) Ways to minimize the information collection burden on those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Congress passed the Desert Land Act of March 3, 1877 (19 Stat. 377; 43 U.S.C. 321-323), as amended by the Act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1096; 43 U.S.C. 231, 323, 325, 327-329) to encourage and promote the economic development of the arid and semiarid public lands. Through the Act, you may apply for a desert-land entry to reclaim, irrigate, and cultivate arid and semiarid public lands in the Western United States.

The regulations in 43 CFR part 2520 provide guidelines and procedures to obtain public lands under the Act. You qualify to file a desert-land entry if you are a citizen of the United States; 21 years old; and a resident in the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, or Wyoming (no residency is required in the State of Nevada).

You may apply for one or more tracts of public lands totaling no more than 320 acres. The land must be surveyed or unsurveyed, unappropriated, non-mineral, and non-timber. The lands must be suitable for agricultural purposes and more valuable for that purpose than any other. The tracts of land must be sufficiently close to each other to manage satisfactorily as an economic unit.

You must locate lands you feel can be economically developed and determine the legal land description. You must contact the BLM State Office where the lands are located and verify the lands are available for desert-land entry application.

When BLM receives the application, we will examine your application for completeness and accuracy and classify the lands included in the application. BLM will approve your application of the lands are classified suitable for desert-land entry or reject your application if the lands are classified unsuitable for desert-land entry.

Based on past experience processing these applications, BLM estimates the public reporting burden for completing the Form 2520-1 is 2 hours. BLM estimates that we receive approximately 3 applications annually, with a total annual burden of 6 hours.

Any member of the public may request and obtain, without charge, a copy of the BLM Form 2520-1 by contacting the person identified under for further information contact.

BLM will summarize all responses to this notice and include them in the request for OMB approval. All comments will become a matter of public record.

Dated: September 18, 2008.

Ted Hudson,

Acting Information Collection Clearance Officer, Bureau of Land Management.