Sixty-Day Notice of Intention To Request Clearance of Information; Opportunity for Public Comment

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: [email protected]>--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:

------------------------------------------------

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

===============================================================

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]

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