Agencies within the Department of the
Interior collect the information in accordance with the Federal
Cave Resources Protection Act (Act), which requires the Secretaries
of Agriculture and Interior to identify and protect significant
caves on Federal lands within their respective jurisdictions. This
request covers Federal lands managed by agencies within the
Department of the Interior, but not Federal lands managed by
agencies within the Department of Agriculture (e.g., U.S. Forest
Service). Agencies within the Department of the Interior use the
information in a cave nomination to determine if the nominated cave
will be listed as significant in accordance with the FCRPA and the
Department's regulations at 43 CFR 37.11(c). The information is
thus necessary for full compliance with agencies' responsibilities
to identify and protect significant caves and their resources.
Agencies within the Department of the Interior use the information
in confidential cave information requests to determine whether to
grant access to confidential cave data. Agencies need this
information in order to comply with their statutory
responsibilities to communicate, cooperate, and exchange
information about significant caves, within the limits prescribed
by the Act.
US Code:
16 USC 4301-4310 Name of Law: Federal Cave Resources Protection
Act
There are no program changes.
The number of cave nominations has been adjusted from 90 to 10 and
the number of requests for confidential cave information has been
adjusted from 10 to 4. These adjustments are due to the BLM's
recent experience with this information collection. In recent
years, fewer volunteers and other interested parties have brought
or sought information about caves managed by the BLM. This is
probably because of the finite number of caves. As it has become
increasingly difficult to locate caves further and further in the
back country, it seems that fewer people are willing or able to put
in the effort to locate and either report caves to the BLM or seek
confidential information about them.
$589
No
No
No
No
No
Uncollected
Anna Atkinson 202 912-7438
amatkinson@blm.gov
No
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.