Proposed Information Collection; National Park Service Natural Quiet Valuation, 6495 [2011-2450]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 24 (Friday, February 4, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 6495]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2450]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NRSS-1210-6465; 2330-RYY]


Proposed Information Collection; National Park Service Natural 
Quiet Valuation

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The National Park Service (NPS) will ask the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the Information Collection (IC) 
for a pretest and a subsequent survey of the general public concerning 
the use and non-use value of natural quiet in national parks. Under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and a part of our 
continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite 
the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on this IC. We 
may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a 
collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

DATES: Public comments will be accepted on the proposed Information 
Collection (IC) on or before April 5, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Send Comments concerning this IC to: Catherine Taylor, Volpe 
National Transportation Systems Center, Economics and Industry Analysis 
Division (RVT-21), 55 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02142; via e-mail at 
Catherine.Taylor@dot.gov or via phone at 617-494-2380. Also, you may 
send comments to: Dr. Bruce Peacock, Chief, Social Science Division, 
Natural Resource Program Center, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge 
Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525-5596, via e-mail at Bruce_Peacock@nps.gov or via phone at 970-267-2106. All responses to this 
Notice will be summarized and included in the proposed Information 
Collection Request (ICR) for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
approval. Please note that all comments will become a matter of public 
record.
    To Request a Draft of Proposed Collection of Information, Contact: 
Catherine Taylor, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, 
Economics and Industry Analysis Division (RVT-21), 55 Broadway, 
Cambridge, MA 02142; or via e-mail at Catherine.Taylor@dot.gov or via 
phone at 617-494-2380.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Bruce Peacock, Chief, Social 
Science Division, Natural Resource Program Center, National Park 
Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525-5596, or via e-
mail at Bruce_Peacock@nps.gov or via phone at 970-267-2106.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract

    The National Park Service (NPS) Act of 1916, 38 Stat 535, 16 U.S.C. 
1, et seq., requires that the NPS preserve national parks for the use 
and enjoyment of present and future generations. In keeping with this 
mission, the NPS must be sensitive to human activity in parks that can 
impact the natural landscape. An area of growing concern has been the 
increasing presence of human-caused sounds at the national parks, 
including sounds from road vehicles, aircraft, and construction and 
mining equipment. These human-caused sounds can affect both human 
visitors and wildlife that live in the park.
    Due to adverse impacts of human-caused sounds, the NPS is 
developing sound management policies at a number of national parks. To 
better inform the development of such practices, the NPS seeks to 
understand the ``use'' and ``non-use'' values the general public 
(visitors and non-visitors) hold for preserving natural quiet at 
national parks.
    This information collection will consist of pre-tests and a final 
survey instrument that will be used to derive estimates of the use and 
non-use value of natural quiet to the public. The pre-test will involve 
a series of focus groups for the purpose of developing and refining the 
questions to be used in the survey. Following the focus groups, the 
revised survey will then be pre-tested among a small group of 
respondents for final feedback and refinement. The final survey will be 
administered to the park visitors to estimate their use value and to 
the general public to estimate their non-use value of natural quiet in 
a national park.

II. Data

    OMB Control Number: None. This is a new collection.
    Title: Quantifying the Non-use Value of Natural Quiet at National 
Parks to the General Public.
    Type of Request: New.
    Respondent Obligation: Voluntary.
    Frequency of response: One-time per respondent.
    Description of Respondents: General public; visitors and non-
visitors.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,140.

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                                                                General
                                                     Visitor     public
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Pretest...........................................         52         88
Survey............................................        500        500
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Total Number of Respondents.......................        552        588
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 534.

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                                                                General
                                                     Visitor     public
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Pretest...........................................        132         68
Survey............................................        167        167
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Total Hours.......................................        299        235
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III. Request for Comments

    Comments are invited on: (1) The practical utility of the 
information being gathered; (2) the accuracy of the burden hour 
estimate; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden to 
respondents, including use of automated information techniques or other 
forms of information technology. 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; please be aware that your entire comment, 
including your personal identifying information may be made publicly 
available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold 
personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.

    Dated: January 31, 2011.
Robert Gordon,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-2450 Filed 2-3-11; 8:45 am]
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