Submission of Study Package to Office of Management and Budget; Opportunity for Public Comment

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

Submission of Study Package to Office of Management and Budget;

Opportunity for Public Comment

AGENCY: Department of the Interior, National Park Service; and 4 units

of the National Park System.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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ABSTRACT: The National Park Service (NPS) Visitor Services Project and

four parks (The Netherlands Carillon/The U.S. Marine Corps War

memorial--Iwo Jima (part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway),

the National Monuments and Memorials (National Mall), Klondike Gold

Rush National Historical Park (Skagway, Alaska), and Whiskeytown

National Recreation Area) propose to conduct visitor surveys to learn

about visitor demographics and visitor opinions about services and

facilities in these four parks. The results of the surveys will be used

by park managers to improve the services they provide to visitors while

better protecting park natural and cultural resources. Study packages

that include the proposed survey questionnaires for these four proposed

park studies have been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget

for review.

SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

and 5 CFR Part 1320, Reporting and Record Keeping Requirements, the NPS

invites public comment on these four proposed information collection

requests (ICR). Comments are invited on: (1) the need for the

information including whether the information has practical utility;

(2) the accuracy of the reporting burden estimate; (3) ways to enhance

the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;

and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on

respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or

other forms of information technology. The purpose of the four proposed

ICRs is to document the demographics of visitors to the four parks, to

learn about the motivations and expectations these visitors have for

their park visits, and to obtain their opinions regarding services

provided by the four parks and the suitability of the visitor

facilities maintained in the four parks. This information will be used

by park planners and managers to plan, develop, and operate visitor

services and facilities in ways that maximize use of limited park

financial and personnel resources to meet the expectations and desires

of park visitors.

There were no public comments received as a result of publishing in

the Federal Register a 60 day notice of intention to request clearance

of information collection for these four surveys.

DATES: Public comments will be accepted on or before April 23, 1998.

SEND COMMENTS TO: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB,

Attention Desk Officer for the Interior Department, Office of

Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20530; and also to: Margaret

Littlejohn; Cooperative Park Studies Unit; Department of Forest

Resources; College of Forestry, Wildlife and Range Sciences; University

of Idaho; Moscow, ID 83844-1133.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR A COPY OF THE STUDY PACKAGES SUBMITTED FOR

OMB REVIEW, CONTACT: Margaret Littlejohn, phone: 208-885-7863, fax:

208-885-4261, or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: National Park Service (NPS) Visitor Services Project Visitor

Surveys at Four Parks.

Form: Not applicable.

OMB Number: To be assigned.

Expiration Date: To be assigned.

Type of Request: Request for new clearance.

Description of Need: The National Park Service needs information

concerning visitor demographics and visitor opinions about the services

and facilities that the National Park Service provides in each of these

four parks. The proposed information to be collected regarding visitors

in these four parks is not available from existing records, sources, or

observation.

Automated Data Collection: At the present time, there is no

automated way to gather this information, since it includes asking

visitors to evaluate services and facilities that they used during

their park visit. The intrusion on visitors to the parks is minimized

by only contacting visitors during one 7-9 day period at each park.

Description of Respondents: A sample of visitors to each of these

four parks.

Estimated Average Number of Respondents: 800 at The Netherlands

Carillon/The U.S. Marine Corps War memorial--Iwo Jima, 800 at the

National Monuments and Memorials (National Mall), 480 at Klondike Gold

Rush National Historical Park (Skagway, Alaska), and 864 at Whiskeytown

National Recreation Area.

Estimated Average Number of Responses: Each respondents will

respond only one time, so the number of responses will be the same as

the number of respondents.

Estimated Average Burden Hours Per Response: 12 minutes.

Frequency of Response: One time per respondent.

Estimated Annual Reporting Burden: 160 hours at The Netherlands

Carillon/The U.S. Marine Corps War memorial--Iwo Jima, 1600 hours at

the National Monuments and Memorials (National Mall), 96 hours at

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park (Skagway, Alaska), and 173

hours at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area.

Diane M. Cooke,

Information Collection Clearance Officer, WASO Administration Program

Center, National Park Service.

[FR Doc. 98-7603 Filed 3-23-98; 8:45 am]

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