[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 97 (Tuesday, May 19, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29962-29963]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-10708]
[[Page 29962]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-HQ-MB-2020-N050; FF09M21200-190-FXMB1231099BPP0; OMB Control
Number 1018-0167]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Eagle Take
Permits and Fees
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, we, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, are proposing to reinstate a previously
approved information collection with revisions.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before
June 18, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments on this information collection request
(ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget's Desk Officer for the
Department of the Interior by email at OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov; or
via facsimile to (202) 395-5806. Please provide a copy of your comments
to the Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/PERMA (JAO), 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls
Church, VA 22041-3803 (mail); or by email to Info_Coll@fws.gov. Please
reference OMB Control Number 1018-0167 in the subject line of your
comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Madonna L. Baucum, Service Information
Collection Clearance Officer, by email at Info_Coll@fws.gov, or by
telephone at (703) 358-2503. Individuals who are hearing or speech
impaired may call the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 for TTY
assistance. You may also view the ICR at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), we, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (Service, we), are proposing to reinstate a previously
approved information collection with revisions.
In accordance with the PRA and its implementing regulations at 5
CFR 1320.8(d)(1), we provide the general public and other Federal
agencies with an opportunity to comment on new, proposed, revised, and
continuing collections of information. This helps us assess the impact
of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's
reporting burden. It also helps the public understand our information
collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired
format.
On November 7, 2019, we published in the Federal Register (84 FR
60106) a notice of our intent to request that OMB approve this
information collection. In that notice, we solicited comments for 60
days, ending on January 6, 2020. We received the following comments in
response to that notice:
Comment 1--Comment received via November 20, 2019, email from
Pimnunihus Cenname: ``If there can be a faster, easier process for
Indigineous-Native Americans, nation's, tribes, Pueblo's, villages, or
descendants, families, Indian doctors, medicine (men, & or women). To
aquire, receive, or obtain, for personal use, spiritual, ceremonial
purposes, then I feel there should be a way implemented. This is apart
of the NATIVE American Freedom of Religion act 1978, as well as other
federal laws, that pertain to such as mentioned above. More over there
has been issues regarding these matters of possession, use, and
conflicts that otherwise could have been avoided, through simple
identification of tribe, family, etc. This is a problem Indigineous
people should not have.''
Agency Response to Comment 1: The Service and Department of the
Interior have taken numerous actions to facilitate indigenous people's
access to eagle and migratory bird feathers. Most recently, we have
established a new tribal permit that allows tribes to retain eagles
found dead on tribal lands with appropriate notification to the Service
to allow a determination of cause of death for purposes of improving
eagle conservation. We have provided grants and permits to tribes to
establish and operate live eagle aviaries, which provide feathers to
tribal members for spiritual and ceremonial purposes. Under all types
of eagle possession permits, permittees are required to send molted
feathers, and eventually eagle remains, to the National Eagle
Repository for distribution to tribal members. We also issue permits to
facilities to receive, possess, and distribute feathers and remains of
other migratory birds to members of federally recognized tribes.
Additionally, we have an official enforcement policy that allows tribal
members to possess parts and feathers of migratory birds without a
permit (as long as the birds were not intentionally killed or obtained
commercially). We continue to explore additional ways to enable
indigenous people to obtain and use eagle and migratory birds for
spiritual and ceremonial purposes in keeping with our responsibility to
conserve healthy populations of eagles and migratory birds.
Comment 2--Comment received via December 30, 2019, email from Ellen
Paul, Executive Director of the Ornithological Council: The scientific
and exhibition purposes permit issued under 50 CFR 22.21 (Form 3-200-
14) for Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles has been problematic. The form is
entitled ``Eagle Exhibition'' but the regulation covers both scientific
research and exhibition. It might be advisable to change the title to
Eagle Exhibition and Scientific Purposes. The regulation allows
transport and possession for scientific research or public exhibition
(or, presumably, both) but the permit seems to be issued only for
public exhibition. Moreover, at least one region is requiring a museum
to obtain a Part 21 scientific collecting permit in order to receive a
bald eagle carcass from the Service, rather than obtaining it under the
museum's ``Federal Eagle Exhibition'' permit.
Some regions have issued Eagle Exhibition permits to museums with
letters stating that the permits are of indefinite duration and
specifying that no annual report is required. This practice makes sense
as museums rarely acquire new eagle specimens. Museum holdings will
rarely change unless a specimen is transferred to another institution.
Others regions still require regular renewal and annual reports.
Agency Response to Comment 2: The commenter is correct that there
is a single section of regulations at 50 CFR 22.21 that covers both
eagle scientific collecting and eagle exhibition. However, the Service
issues two different types of permits under those regulations, one for
each of the two activities, which are actually quite distinct in
practice. As such, we use two different application forms in order to
obtain the different types of information appropriate to each activity.
For museum collections, which are used for scientific study, the
correct application form is one that is used for both eagle scientific
collecting and for scientific collecting for other migratory birds, as
the commenter notes (Form 3-200-7, ``Migratory Bird and Eagle
Scientific Collecting''). For museum exhibitions, which are public
exhibits, the correct application form is Form 3-200-14 ``Eagle
Exhibition.'' Because the Eagle Exhibition application form is not used
for scientific collections, it does not include questions related to
scientific
[[Page 29963]]
collections. We appreciate these comments and will work with our
regional permit offices to resolve the inconsistent approach to setting
permit durations and requiring annual reports.
As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent
burdens, we are again soliciting comments from the public and other
Federal agencies on the proposed ICR that is described below. We are
especially interested in public comment addressing the following:
(1) Whether or not the collection of information is necessary for
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including
whether or not the information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this collection
of information, including the validity of the methodology and
assumptions used;
(3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
(4) How might the agency minimize the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g.,
permitting electronic submission of response.
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 us in your comment to withhold your personal
identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we
will be able to do so.
Abstract: Information collection requirements associated with the
Federal fish and wildlife permit applications and reports for both
migratory birds and eagles are currently approved under a single OMB
control number, 1018-0022, ``Federal Fish and Wildlife Permit
Applications and Reports--Migratory Birds and Eagles; 50 CFR 10, 13,
21, 22.'' With this submission to OMB, we are proposing to reinstate
OMB Control Number 1018-0167, ``Eagle Take Permits and Fees, 50 CFR
22,'' in order to transfer the eagle requirements back in to a separate
information collection to facilitate easier management of the
information collection requirements associated with eagles.
The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (Eagle Act; 16 U.S.C. 668-
668d) prohibits take of bald eagles and golden eagles except pursuant
to Federal regulations. The Eagle Act regulations at title 50, part 22
of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) define the ``take'' of an
eagle to include the following broad range of actions: To ``pursue,
shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, destroy,
molest, or disturb.'' The Eagle Act allows the Secretary of the
Interior to authorize certain otherwise prohibited activities through
regulations.
All Service permit applications associated with eagles are in the
3-200 and 3-202 series of forms, each tailored to a specific activity
based on the requirements for specific types of permits. For this
reinstatement, we combined Forms 3-200-10c and 3-200-10d into one form
(3-200-10c) to reduce the number of application forms and help
streamline the application process. Since both forms dealt with
possession for education purposes, and asked virtually the same
questions of the applicant, there was no need to have separate forms.
We collect standard identifier information for all permits. The
information that we collect on applications and reports is the minimum
necessary for us to determine if the applicant meets/continues to meet
issuance requirements for the particular activity.
In addition to reinstating this information collection, the Service
will request OMB approval to automate certain eagle permit forms. The
Service's new ``ePermits'' initiative is an automated permit
application system that will allow the agency to move towards a
streamlined permitting process to reduce public burden. Public burden
reduction is a priority for the Service; the Assistant Secretary for
Fish, Wildlife, and Parks; and senior leadership at the Department of
the Interior. The intent of the ePermits initiative is to fully
automate the permitting process to improve the customer experience and
to reduce time burden on respondents. This new system will enhance the
user experience by allowing users to enter data from any device that
has internet access, including personal computers, tablets, and
smartphones. It will also link the permit applicant to the Pay.gov
system for payment of the associated permit application fee.
We anticipate including the following Service forms in the ePermits
initiative: FWS Forms 3-200-14, 3-200-15a, 3-200-16, 3-200-18, 3-200-
69, 3-200-72, 3-200-77, 3-200-78, 3-200-82, 3-202-11 through 3-202-16,
3-1552, and 3-1591.
Title of Collection: Eagle Take Permits and Fees, 50 CFR 22.
OMB Control Number: 1018-0167.
Form Numbers: FWS Forms 3-200-14, 3-200-15a, 3-200-16, 3-200-18, 3-
200-71, 3-200-72, 3-200-77, 3-200-78, 3-200-82, 3-202-11 through 3-202-
16, 3-1552, 3-1591, and 3-2480.
Type of Review: Reinstatement of a previously approved information
collection with revisions.
Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals and businesses. We expect
the majority of applicants seeking long-term permits will be in the
energy production and electrical distribution business.
Total Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 4,068.
Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 4,318.
Estimated Completion Time per Response: Varies from 15 minutes to
228 hours, depending on activity.
Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 25,894.
Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain a benefit.
Frequency of Collection: On occasion for applications; annually or
on occasion for reports.
Total Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: $1,369,200 (primarily
associated with application processing fees).
An agency 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.
The authority for this action is the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
Dated: May 14, 2020.
Madonna Baucum,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-10708 Filed 5-18-20; 8:45 am]
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