Information Collection Request Sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Approval; Wolf-Livestock Demonstration Project Grant Program, 75125-75126 [2015-30431]

Agencies

• Fish and Wildlife Service
• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 230 (Tuesday, December 1, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75125-75126]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-30431]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-HQ-ES-2015-N224; FGES111309WLLF0-156]


Information Collection Request Sent to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for Approval; Wolf-Livestock Demonstration Project 
Grant Program

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) have sent an Information 
Collection Request (ICR) to OMB for review and approval. We summarize 
the ICR below and describe the nature of the collection and the 
estimated burden and cost. This information collection is scheduled to 
expire on December 31, 2015. We may not conduct or sponsor and a person 
is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it 
displays a currently valid OMB control number. However, under OMB 
regulations, we may continue to conduct or sponsor this information 
collection while it is pending at OMB.

DATES: You must submit comments on or before December 31, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Send your comments and suggestions on this information 
collection to the Desk Officer for the Department of the Interior at 
OMB-OIRA at (202) 395-5806 (fax) or OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov 
(email). Please provide a copy of your comments to the Service 
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, MS BPHC, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803 
(mail), or hope_grey@fws.gov (email). Please include ``1018-0154'' in 
the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information 
about this ICR, contact Hope Grey at hope_grey@fws.gov (email) or 703-
358-2482 (telephone). You may review the ICR online at https://www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to review Department of the 
Interior collections under review by OMB.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Information Collection Request

    OMB Control Number: 1018-0154.
    Title: Wolf-Livestock Demonstration Project Grant Program.
    Service Form Number: None.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Description of Respondents: States and Indian tribes.
    Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain a benefit.

[[Page 75126]]

    Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 10.
    Frequency of Collection: On occasion for applications, annually for 
reports, and ongoing for recordkeeping.
    Estimated Number of Responses and Annual Burden Hours:

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                                                  Number of                                        Total annual
                   Activity                       responses       Completion time per response     burden hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Applications.................................              22  8 hours..........................             176
Reports and Recordkeeping....................              20  14 hours.........................             280
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    TOTALS...................................              42  .................................             456
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    Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.
    Abstract: Subtitle C of Title VI of the Omnibus Public Land 
Management Act of 2009 (Act; Pub. L. 111-11) authorizes the Secretary 
of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a Wolf-
Livestock Demonstration Project Grant Program (WLDPGP) to:
     Assist livestock producers in undertaking proactive, 
nonlethal activities to reduce the risk of livestock loss due to 
predation by wolves; and
     Compensate livestock producers for livestock losses due to 
such predation.
    The Act directs that the program be established as a grant program 
to provide funding to States and tribes, that the Federal cost share 
not exceed 50 percent, and that funds be expended equally between the 
two purposes. The Act included an authorization of appropriations up to 
$1 million each fiscal year for 5 years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service Ecological Services Program will allocate the funding in the 
form of competitively awarded grants to States and tribes with a prior 
history of wolf depredation. States with delisted wolf populations are 
eligible for funding, provided that they meet the eligibility criteria 
contained in Pub. L. 111-11.
    The following additional criteria apply to all WLDPGP grants and 
must be satisfied for a project to receive WLDPGP funding:
     Proposal cannot include U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
full-time equivalent (FTE) costs.
     Proposal cannot seek funding for projects that serve to 
satisfy regulatory requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), 
including complying with a biological opinion under section 7 or 
fulfilling commitments of a habitat conservation plan (HCP) under ESA 
section 10, or for projects that serve to satisfy other Federal 
regulatory requirements (e.g., mitigation for Federal permits).
     State administrative costs must be assumed by the State or 
included in the proposal in accordance with Federal requirements.
    We will publish notices of funding opportunity on the Grants.gov 
Web site at https://www.grants.gov, as well as in the Catalog of Federal 
Domestic Assistance at https://cfda.gov. This information collection 
includes both grant applications and reporting/recordkeeping 
requirements. To compete for grant funds, eligible States and tribes 
must submit an application that describes in substantial detail project 
locations, project resources, future benefits, and other 
characteristics that meet the Wolf-Livestock Demonstration Project 
Grant Program purposes as listed above. In accordance with the Act, 
States and tribes that receive a grant must:
     Maintain files of all claims received under programs 
funded by the grant, including supporting documentation; and
     Submit an annual report that includes a summary of claims 
and expenditures under the program during the year and a description of 
any action taken on the claims.

Comments Received and Our Responses

    On August 18, 2015, we published in the Federal Register (80 FR 
50024) a notice of our intent to request that OMB renew approval for 
this information collection. In that notice, we solicited comments for 
60 days, ending on October 19, 2015. We received two comments. One 
commenter expressed opinions about WLDPGP funding and wolf management 
in general, but did not address the information collection 
requirements. The second commenter described the program as an 
excellent source of dedicated funds for preventative strategies to 
reduce wolf-livestock conflict, but expressed frustration with the 
accessibility of annual reports. The Service's Regional Offices are 
responsible for monitoring the grant projects and maintaining the 
administrative record of WLDPGP grants. In the future, we commit to 
ensuring that all annual reports are filed in the appropriate Regional 
Offices and made readily available upon request. No changes were made 
to the information collection requirements as a result of these 
comments.

Request for Public Comments

    We again invite comments concerning this information collection on:
     Whether or not the collection of information is necessary, 
including whether or not the information will have practical utility;
     The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this 
collection of information;
     Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. Before including your address, phone number, email 
address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you 
should be aware that your entire comment, including your personal 
identifying information, may be made publicly available at any time. 
While you can ask OMB and us in your comment to withhold your personal 
identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that it 
will be done.

    Dated: November 25, 2015.
Tina A. Campbell,
Chief, Division of Policy, Performance, and Management Programs, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-30431 Filed 11-30-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P