The Fish and Wildlife Service collects information on application forms and in reports to determine the eligibility of applicants for permits requested in accordance with the criteria in various Federal wildlife conservation laws. The requirements associated with this information collection implement the prohibitions and exceptions of the Endangered Species Act, except those concerning the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES).
We are requesting 2,499 responses, totaling 18,796 annual burden hours for this collection. We are reporting a program change of 3 requests totaling 3 burden hours. Upon closer examination of our permit regulations at 50 CFR 17, we found three additional minor information collection requirements that we did not include in our previously approved information collection. The net decrease of 153 responses and 962 burden hours from our previous request is a result of using a different method to estimate the number of respondents and responses for this ICR. In previous renewal requests, we queried our permit database for the numbers of permits issued annually to estimate the number of respondents and responses, for this 2007 renewal request we used existing data to make our estimate. We used the numbers of permits issued that were previously reported to us by our Regional Offices under our FY 07 annual Government Performance Results Act (GPRA) data call for this 2007 information collection renewal request. We believe this represents a more realistic estimate of burden. We estimate the nonhour burden costs for this ICR to be $55,000, which is a $38,000 reduction from our previous request. This reduction is primarily because our previous request erroneously included application processing fees for exempt entities.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Native Endangered and Threatened Species - Enhancement of Survival Permits Associated with Safe Harbor Agreement & Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances - application (individuals)