[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 110 (Thursday, June 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33765-33766]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13793]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R3-ES-2012-N138: FX3ES11130300000D2-123-FF03E00000]
Proposed Information Collection; Bald Eagle Post-delisting
Monitoring
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) will ask the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC)
described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and
as part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent
burden, we invite the general public and other Federal agencies to take
this opportunity to comment on this IC. This IC is scheduled to expire
on November 30, 2012. 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.
DATES: To ensure that we are able to consider your comments on this IC,
we must receive them by August 6, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Send your comments on the IC to the Service Information
Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS 2042-
PDM, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203 (mail); or
INFOCOL@fws.gov (email). Please include ``1018-0143'' in the subject
line of your comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information
about this IC, contact Hope Grey at INFOCOL@fws.gov (email) or 703-358-
2482 (telephone).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
This information collection implements the requirements of the
Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) (ESA). There are no
corresponding Service regulations for the ESA's post-delisting
monitoring requirement.
The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the lower 48 States
was removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife
(delisted) on August 8, 2007 (72 FR 37346, July 9, 2007). Section 4(g)
of the ESA requires that all species that are recovered and removed
from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife be monitored in
cooperation with the States for a period of not less than 5 years. The
purpose of this requirement is to detect any failure of a recovered
species to sustain itself without the protections of the ESA. We work
with relevant Federal, State, and tribal entities, and other species
experts to develop plans and procedures for systematically monitoring
recovered wildlife and plants after a species is delisted.
The bald eagle has a large geographic distribution that includes a
substantial amount of non-Federal land. Although the ESA requires that
monitoring of recovered species be conducted for not less than 5 years,
the life history of bald eagles is such that it is appropriate to
monitor this species for a longer period of time in order to
meaningfully evaluate whether or not the bald eagle
[[Page 33766]]
continues to maintain its recovered status.
We plan to monitor the status of the bald eagle in the 48
contiguous States by collecting data on nests over a 20-year period
with sampling events held once every 5 years. The Post-delisting
Monitoring Plan for the Bald Eagle (Plan) describes monitoring
procedures and methods. The Plan is available at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/eagle/protect/FINAL_BEPDM11May2010.pdf. We will use the
monitoring data to review the status of the bald eagle in the United
States and determine if it remains recovered and, therefore, does not
require the protections of the ESA.
II. Data
OMB Control Number: 1018-0143.
Title: Bald Eagle Post-delisting Monitoring.
Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Description of Respondents: States, tribes, and local governments;
Federal land managers; and nongovernmental partners.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Frequency of Collection: Once every 5 years.
Note: For each 5-year survey, we estimate a total of 48
respondents will provide 48 responses totaling 1,478 burden hours.
The burden estimates below are annualized over the 3-year period of
OMB approval.
Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 16.
Estimated Total Annual Responses: 16.
Estimated Time per Response: 30.8 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 493.
III. Comments
We 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. We will include or summarize each comment in our request
to OMB to approve this IC. 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.
Dated: May 31, 2012.
Tina A. Campbell,
Chief, Division of Policy and Directives Management, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-13793 Filed 6-6-12; 8:45 am]
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