[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 http://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
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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 http://www.grants.gov, as well as in the Catalog of Federal
Domestic Assistance at http://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