[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 248 (Monday, December 29, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67654-67655]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33727]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
60-Day Notice of Intention To Request Clearance of Collection of
Information--Opportunity for Public Comment
AGENCY: Department of the Interior, National Park Service, and 13 Units
of the National Park Service.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The National Park Service is proposing to sponsor during the
summer of 1998 a project to determine how park visitors at a sample of
thirteen parks feel about the recreation fee demonstration program that
currently is being tested in approximately 100 projects that involve
more than 100 units of the National Park System. The parks proposed to
be surveyed in 1998 include:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated
NPS unit number Estimated
responses burden hours
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Allegheny Portage Railroad National
Historical Site........................ 300 100
(2) Colonial National Historical Park... 300 100
(3) Everglades National Park............ 300 100
(4) Frederick Douglass National Historic
Site................................... 300 100
(5) Glen Canyon National Recreation Area 300 100
(6) Golden Gate National Recreation Area 300 100
(7) Grand Canyon National Park.......... 300 100
(8) Independence National Historical
Park................................... 400 200
(9) Mesa Verde National Park............ 300 100
(10) Sitka National Park................ 300 100
(11) Sleeping Bear Dunes National
Lakeshore.............................. 300 100
(12) Yellowstone National Park.......... 400 200
(13) Yosemite National Park............. 400 200
-------------------------------
Totals.............................. 4,200 1,600
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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 gathering the
information in this proposed visitor study. The NPS is also 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.
The NPS goal in conducting this survey is to identify what
influences, if any, changes in park fee structures have had on the
characteristics and relative mix of different types of park visitors
who use the parks, on how implementing the demonstration fee program is
affecting the operations of the parks from the perspective of the
visitors, and on how the changes associated with the changed fee
structures and any resulting changes in park operations affect the
experiences of the visitors using these parks. In addition, at the
three more intensively surveyed parks, the project goal is to determine
how changes caused by the fee demonstration program may be impacting
local and regional communities and economies. Results of the surveys
proposed to be conducted at these 13 parks will be used by NPS managers
in their ongoing planning and management activities to improve visitor
services, protect park resources, and better serve the parks' current
and future visitors. Results of the recreation fee demonstration
program of which this proposed survey activity will be a part will be
used by the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, and
the Congress to evaluate the outcome of the trial recreation fee
demonstration program and to consider whether or not to enact
legislation to establish permanent recreation fee authority for the
National Park Service.
DATES: Public comments will be accepted on or before February 27, 1998.
Send Comments To: Dr. John Duffield, 3699 Larch Camp Road,
Missoula, Montana 59803, phone and fax: 406-728-9510.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. John Duffield at the above
address.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Visitor and Related Survey at 13 Recreation Fee
Demonstration Parks.
Bureau Form Number: None.
OMB Number: To be requested.
Expiration Date: To be requested.
[[Page 67655]]
Type of Request: Request for new clearance.
Description of Need: NPS needs information concerning park visitor
demographics and visitor opinions about the fee demonstration program
that the National Park Service is testing. The information proposed to
be collected from visitors and park managers in these 13 parks to meet
these needs is not available from existing records, sources, or
observations.
Automated Date Collection: At the present time, there is no
automated way to gather this information, since it includes asking
visitors to react to fees, park management, and visitor services at the
parks they are visiting. The intrusion on visitors is minimized by
contacting them only once during their visit to the park.
Description of Respondents: A sample of visitors to each park.
Estimated Average Number of Respondents: 300 visitors per park at
ten of the parks and 400 visitors per park at the other three parks.
Estimated Average Number of Responses: Each respondent 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: 20 minutes at each of
the 10 parks and 30 minutes at each of the remaining 3 parks.
Frequency of Response: 1 time per respondent.
Estimated Annual Reporting Burden: The total for all parks is
estimated to be 1,600 hours.
Diane M. Cooke,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, WASO Administrative Program
Center, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 97-33727 Filed 12-24-97; 8:45 am]
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