Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments

AGENCY:

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Interior.

ACTION:

Notice of a new information collection, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Berry Outlook.

SUMMARY:

We (the U.S. Geological Survey) will ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) 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.

DATES:

To ensure that your comments are considered, we must receive them on or before August 15, 2016.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments on this information collection to the Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 807, Reston, VA 20192 (mail); (703) 648-7197 (fax); or gs-info_collections@usgs.gov (email). Please reference `Information Collection 1028-NEW, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Berry Outlook' in all correspondence.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Nicole Herman-Mercer, Social Scientist, at (303) 236-5031 or nhmercer@usgs.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

The Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta Berry Outlook is a data and observer driven ecological monitoring and modeling framework that forecasts changes in berry habitat and abundance with climate and environmental change. In order to create a monitoring protocol and modeling framework we will solicit local knowledge of berry distribution and abundance from members of Yukon-Kuskokwim communities. Participants from the communities will take part in a survey that asks yes or no questions about the timing, abundance, and distribution of three types of berries that are important in their communities. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) will be limited to four elements: Names, phone numbers, emails, and the name of the village they reside in. This PII will be collected in order to communicate project results and solicit feedback on the project itself for evaluation purposes. Statistical analysis will be performed on the survey responses in order to ascertain if a consensus exists among participants within villages and among villages. The survey results will be one source of information used to create a model forecasting changes in Tribal food sources.

The USGS mission is to serve the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth. This project will collect information from individuals to better understand the abundance, distribution, and variability of berry resources in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region of Alaska. The people of the YK delta rely on wild berries for a substantial part of their diet and hold information about the long term distribution and abundance of berries that is useful for understanding current and future changes to berry habitat due to climate change impacts that will effect both human and wildlife populations of the Yukon Delta region and the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

II. Data

OMB Control Number: 1028—NEW.

Title: Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Berry Outlook.

Type of Request: New information collection.

Affected Public: Individuals; Tribal members that reside in the villages of Chevak, Hooper Bay, Kotlik, and Emmonak, Alaska.

Respondent's Obligation: None, participation is voluntary.

Frequency of Collection: One-time.

Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: Forty.

Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: Forty.

Estimated Time per Response: One hour.

Estimated Annual Burden Hours: Forty hours.

Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping “Non-Hour Cost” Burden: None.

Public Disclosure Statement: The PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) provides that an agency may not conduct or sponsor and you are not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number and current expiration date.

III. Request for Comments

We are soliciting comments as to: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the agency to perform its duties, including whether the information is useful; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) how to minimize the burden on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Please note that the comments submitted in response to this notice are a matter of public record. Before including your personal mailing address, phone number, email address, or other personally identifiable information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment, including your personally identifiable information, may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personally identifiable information from public view, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.