Agency Information Collection Activities: Assessment Tools for Park-Based Youth Education and Employment Experience Programs at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, 70809-70810 [2012-28702]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 27, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70809-70810]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-28702]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NRSS-EQD-11735; PPPWSAMOR6 PPMRSNR1Z.Y00000]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Assessment Tools for 
Park-Based Youth Education and Employment Experience Programs at Santa 
Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), we 
(the National Park Service) are notifying the public that we have 
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) an information 
collection request (ICR) for a proposed new collection. This notice 
provides the public and other Federal agencies an opportunity to 
comment on the paperwork burden of this collection.

DATES: To ensure that your comments on this ICR are considered, please 
submit them on or before December 27, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Please submit written comments on this information 
collection directly to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office 
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Desk Officer for the 
Department of the Interior via email to OIRA_SUBMISSION@omb.eop.gov or 
fax at 202-395-5806; and identify your submission as 1024-SAMO. Please 
also send a copy your comments to Phadrea Ponds, Information 
Collections Coordinator, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, 
Fort Collins, CO 80525 (mail); or phadrea_ponds@nps.gov (email).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Antonio_Solorio@nps.gov (email); or 
by mail at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, 401 W. 
Hillcrest Drive; Thousand Oaks, CA 91360. You may also access this ICR 
at www.reginfo.gov.

I. Abstract

    The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SAMO) has 
three programs that provide continuous education and employment 
experience opportunities for students in the vicinity of the park. We 
use a series of surveys to objectively evaluate the short and long-term 
success of these environmental education programs. Areas of interest 
include: (1) Understanding and concern for natural and cultural 
resource conservation and stewardship and resulting behavior changes 
both inside and outside parks; (2) Awareness and feelings toward the 
National Park Service; (3) Recreational interests and activities; (4) 
Influences on family and friends' attitudes and behaviors; (5) 
Education and career choices; and (6) Usefulness of work experience.
    The SHRUB program provides education and in-depth involvement for 
students and their families in grade school. The EcoHelpers program 
provides one-day service learning programs to high schools students. 
The SAMO Youth program provides progressive integrated work experience 
for high school and college students. While SAMO has many observational 
and anecdotal indications of success, no formal tools have been 
developed to evaluate these programs. The goal of this collection is to 
provide scientifically sound and reliable measures of outcomes for the 
three youth education and employment experience programs at SAMO. This 
assessment will be used to build the capacity of park youth program 
managers to help the park achieve its goal of continual program 
improvement and expanded documentation of program impact.

II. Data

    OMB Number: 1024-NEW.
    Title: Assessment Tools for Park-Based Youth Education and 
Employment Experience Programs at Santa Monica Mountains National 
Recreation Area.
    Type of Request: This is a new collection.
    Affected Public: General Public; College students, school aged 
children (elementary and high school), and teachers.
    Respondent Obligation: Voluntary.
    Estimated Annual Number of Responses: We expect to receive a total 
of 1,224 annual responses (1,204 students and 20 teachers).

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                                                                                    SAMO Youth
                                                    EcoHelpers        SHRUBS          program          Total
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Teachers........................................              12               8               0              20
Students........................................             720             384             100           1,204
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[[Page 70810]]

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 408 hours. We estimate an 
average of 20 minutes per response (2 minutes to read the instructions 
and 18 minutes to complete the survey instrument).

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                                                                                   SAMO Youth
                                                 EcoHelpers         SHRUBS          program           Total
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Annual Burden Hours.........................             135              240               33              408
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    Estimated Time and Frequency of Response: The EcoHelper, SHRUBS and 
SAMO students will be required to take two surveys (a pre- and post-
visit survey); the teachers and SAMO Alumni participants will respond 
to one survey.
    Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-Hour Cost'' Burden: We 
have not identified any ``non-hour cost'' burdens associated with this 
collection of information.
    Public Disclosure Statement: The PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) 
provides that an agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of 
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

III. Request for Comments

    On January 30, 2012, we published a Federal Register notice (77 FR 
4577) announcing that we would submit this ICR to OMB for approval and 
soliciting comments. The comment period closed on March 30, 2012. We 
did not receive any comments.
    Comments are again 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. All comments will become a matter of 
public record. 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: November 14, 2012.
Madonna L. Baucum,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-28702 Filed 11-26-12; 8:45 am]
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