[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 155 (Thursday, August 12, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43978-43979]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-20843]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Information Collection; Request for Comments; Improve Management
of the Tongass National Forest and Service to Local, Regional, and
National Customers
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the
Forest Service announces its intention to establish a new information
collection. The new collection will provide information that will help
Forest Service personnel identify and meet the needs of people who use,
visit, or benefit in other ways from the Tongass National Forest in
southeast Alaska. Respondents will be chosen from three different
groups of customers: southeast Alaska residents; southeast Alaska
visitors; and the general public.
DATES: Comments must be received in writing on or before October 12,
1999.
ADDRESSES: All comments should be addressed to: Robert F. Schroeder,
Forestry Sciences Lab, Forest Service, USDA, 2770 Sherwood Lane, Suite
2A, Juneau, AK 99801.
Comments also may be submitted via facsimile to (907) 586-7848 or
by email to rschroeder/[email protected].
The public may inspect comments received at the Office of the
Forestry Sciences Lab, Forest Service, USDA, 2770 Sherwood Lane, Suite
2A, Juneau, Alaska. Visitors are asked to call (907) 586-8811,
extension 240, to facilitate entrance into the building.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert F. Schroeder, Forestry Sciences
Lab, at (907) 586-8811, extension 240.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Tongass National Forest encompasses nearly 85 percent of the
land in southeast Alaska, and activities conducted on the Forest form
the basis for the regional economy. Commercial fishing, timber
production, mineral extraction, and the quickly growing tourism
industry depend on the renewable and non-renewable natural resources of
this National Forest. The Forest Service completed a revision of the
Tongass Land Management Plan in 1997 and published a revised Record of
Decision in the Federal Register on May 11, 1999 (64 FR 25274). The
Tongass Land Management Plan and Record of Decision will serve as a
blueprint for how the Forest Service will manage the Tongass National
Forest over the next 10 to 15 years.
While revising the Tongass Land Management Plan in 1997, the Forest
Service identified critical information needs. Some of these
information needs were associated with the human component of Tongass
National Forest ecosystems, that is the people and social systems that
benefit from these ecosystems.
The collected data, while addressing the human component, will
provide the Forest Service with a better understanding of how forest
management practices influence community well-being and social change
within the southeast Alaska geographic area and will help the agency
meet the needs of three groups of diverse customers: residents of
southeast Alaska who are affected by forest management actions on a
day-to-day basis, people from outside the southeast Alaska geographic
area who visit the Tongass National Forest, and people who may never
visit the Tongass National Forest yet believe they benefit because it
exists.
The agency will gain a better understanding of the demands the
public makes on the Tongass National Forest programs and services, how
well information about agency programs and services are communicated to
the public, and how well the agency meets the needs and expectations of
the three identified groups of people.
Forest Service personnel from the Pacific Northwest Research
Station Forestry Sciences Lab in Juneau, Alaska, will work in
cooperation with University of Alaska research staff to design,
administer, and evaluate these surveys. Interviewers will conduct most
surveys by telephone. Mail-back questionnaires and face-to-face
interviews will be used to reach people who do not have telephones.
People from each of the three identified groups will be asked to
respond to questions that include their perceptions of how the Tongass
National Forest is managed by the agency, their preferences for how
this National Forest should be managed, their perceptions of Tongass
National Forest ecosystems, their past and planned visits to the
Tongass National Forest, their use of the forest's resources, their
vision of the forest of the future, their household and community
economic dependence on the forest, and their attitudes and values
concerning timber management.
The information collection is comprised of three closely related
surveys: The Tongass Southeast Alaska Resident Survey, The Tongass
Visitor Survey, and The Tongass National Public Survey. A description
of each survey form follows.
Description of Information Collection
The following describes the new information collection:
Title: The Tongass Southeast Alaska Resident Survey.
OMB Number: New.
Expiration Date of Approval: New.
Type of Request: This is a new information collection requirement
and has not received approval from the Office of Management and Budget.
Abstract: The Forest Service conducted a survey in 1979 to assess
the interaction of the southeast Alaska residents with the Tongass
National Forest. This survey also included the perceptions these
residents had of the Tongass as a natural resource. The 1979 survey
provided the most recent comprehensive information on southeast Alaska
residents' subsistence and recreational use of the Tongass, their
attitudes and values concerning the Tongass National Forest, their
interest in the development of a regional timber economy, and their
perceptions of Forest Service land management practices. This important
benchmark
[[Page 43979]]
survey is now 20 years old and may not be an accurate reflection of the
views, perceptions, and activities of current southeast Alaska
residents.
This new information collection will provide current data and
identify issues that have become important to the southeast Alaska
residents in the intervening years. Respondents also will be asked
questions that relate to issues that were not important at the time of
the 1979 survey. These issues include large scale timber harvesting on
national forest and private lands, a large increase in tourist use of
the forest, expansion of tourist use into back-country areas, economic
restructuring of the area that is moving away from timber, mining, and
commercial fishing toward tourism and service industries, and an
increasing resident and visitor population competing for limited fish
and wildlife resources.
Forest Service personnel and University of Alaska research staff
will conduct a random sample survey of southeast Alaska residents,
primarily through telephone interviews.
Data gathered in this information collection are not available from
other sources.
Estimated Burden per Respondent: 30 minutes.
Type of Respondents: Individuals from southeast Alaska.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 1600.
Estimated Number of Responses per Respondents: 1.
Estimated Total Burden on Respondents: 800 hours.
Description of Information Collection
The following describes the new information collection:
Title: The Tongass Visitor Survey.
OMB Number: New.
Expiration Date of Approval: New.
Type of Request: This is a new information collection requirement
and has not received approval from the Office of Management and Budget.
Abstract: In 1979, the Forest Service conducted a survey of cruise
ship passengers visiting southeast Alaska as a companion study to the
1979 Alaska Public Survey. In the intervening years, tourism has
increased in southeast Alaska, with approximately 1 million visitors
expected in 1999.
The Forest Service is the primary land manager in the southeast
Alaska area. The tourist industry has become a dominant economic and
social force within this area, and the tourist experience has become a
more important concern of the agency's management of the Tongass
National Forest.
Visitors are drawn to the scenic attractions on the Tongass
National Forest that include the tidewater and other glaciers; the
wilderness, wildlife, and whales; the Native cultures and colorful
history; and excellent sport fishing opportunities. Cruise ship
visitors comprise a large majority of the total visitor population to
southeast Alaska. However, independent travelers are becoming a larger
segment of the tourist population.
This information collection will help Forest Service personnel
evaluate a visitor's interaction with the Tongass National Forest, the
perceptions visitors have regarding the Forest Service's land
management practices of these natural resources, the role the Tongass
National Forest plays in attracting visitors to southeast Alaska, and
how the agency's land management practices add to or detract from
visitors' experiences.
This information collection will be accomplished through interviews
with tourists visiting southeast Alaska. Forest Service personnel in
cooperation with university research staff will collect information
through telephone interviews, mail-back questionnaires, and face-to-
face interviews. Forest Service personnel will compare the data from
this collection to the study conducted in 1979.
Data gathered in this information collection are not available from
other sources.
Estimated Burden per Respondent: 30 minutes.
Type of Respondents: Individuals from the main market segments of
southeast Alaska pleasure visitor populations.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,500.
Estimated Number of Responses per Respondents: 1.
Estimated Total Burden on Respondents: 750 hours.
Description of Information Collection
The following describes the new information collection:
Title: Tongass National Public Survey.
OMB Number: New.
Expiration Date of Approval: New.
Type of Request: This is a new information collection requirement
and has not received approval from the Office of Management and Budget.
Abstract: The Tongass National Public Survey will provide a method
of collecting information to learn if people in the United States
outside Alaska are aware of the existence of the Tongass National
Forest and, of those who are aware, how they perceive the benefits of
this Forest. Respondents will be non-Alaskan residents of the United
States.
Forest Service personnel will work cooperatively with university
staff and professional contractors to ask respondents questions that
include their knowledge about the Tongass National Forest, their past
or planned visits to the forest, the benefits they believe they obtain
or receive from this National Forest, and their perceptions of the
agency's management of this Forest. Researchers will conduct a
telephone survey of people who live in the United States outside of
Alaska.
Data gathered in this information collection are not available from
other sources.
Estimated Burden per Respondent: 30 minutes.
Type of Respondents: Individuals from the national public.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,200.
Estimated Number of Responses per Respondents: 1.
Estimated Total Burden on Respondents: 600 hours.
Comments Are Invited
The agency invites comments on the following: (a) Whether the
proposed collection of information is necessary for the stated purposes
and the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information will have practical or scientific utility; (b)
the accuracy of the estimate of the burden of the proposed collection
of information, including the validity of the methodology and
assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity
of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden
of the collection of information on respondents, including the use of
automated, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
Use of Comments
All comments received in response to this notice will be summarized
and included in the request for Office of Management and Budget
approval. Those who submit comments should be aware that all comments,
including names and addresses when provided, are placed in the record
and are available for public inspection.
Dated August 4, 1999.
Robert Lewis, Jr.,
Deputy Chief for Research and Development.
[FR Doc. 99-20843 Filed 8-11-99; 8:45 am]
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