60 Day Federal Register Notice

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 170 / Wednesday, September 3, 2014 / Notices

and no member shall serve more than
six consecutive years on the Committee.
AMS oversees the Committee to ensure
that it is administered according to the
FACA.
AMS Deputy Administrator for the
Fruit and Vegetable Program, Charles
Parrott, serves as the Committee’s
Executive Secretary. Representatives
from USDA mission areas and other
government agencies affecting the fruit
and vegetable industry are called upon
to participate in the Committee’s
meetings as determined by the
Committee. AMS is giving notice of the
Committee meeting to the public so that
they may attend and present their
recommendations. The meeting is open
to the public. Reference to dates and
addresses section for the time and place
of the meeting.
Agenda items will include, but are not
limited to, welcome and introductions,
administrative matters, selection of
Committee Chairman and ViceChairman, and discussions by the
Committee on the full spectrum of
issues facing the fruit and vegetable
industry. The Committee will determine
the areas that they would like to address
concerning the Department’s programs.
Public Comments: Those parties that
would like to speak at the meeting
should register on or before September
19, 2014. To register as a speaker, please
email your name and all of the names
of people planning to give oral
comments, the organizations or interests
represented, business addresses, email
addresses, and telephone numbers to
Ms. Marlene Betts, Acting Designated
Federal Officer (DFO) at:
[email protected] or
telephone at (202) 720–3334. Speakers
who have registered in advance will be
given priority. Written public comments
may be submitted electronically by
September 19, 2014, for the Committee’s
consideration to www.regulations.gov or
mail to: 1400 Independence Avenue
SW., Room 2077–South, STOP 0235,
Washington, DC 20250–0235. The
meeting will be recorded, and
information about obtaining a transcript
will be provided at the meeting.
Meeting Accommodations: The
meeting hotel is ADA compliant, and
the USDA provides reasonable
accommodations to individuals with
disabilities where appropriate. If you
need a reasonable accommodation to
participate in this public meeting,
please notify Marlene Betts at
[email protected] or (202)
720–3334. Determinations for
reasonable accommodations will be
made on a case-by-case basis.

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Dated: August 27, 2014.
Rex A. Barnes,
Associate Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2014–20833 Filed 9–2–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Information Collection: Generic
Information Collection Clearance for
STEW–MAP, the Stewardship Mapping
and Assessment Project
Forest Service, USDA.
Notice; request for comment.

AGENCY:
ACTION:

In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the
Forest Service is seeking comments
from all interested individuals and
organizations on the new information
collection Generic Information
Collection Clearance for STEW–MAP,
the Stewardship Mapping and
Assessment Project.
DATES: Comments must be received in
writing on or before November 3, 2014
to be assured of consideration.
Comments received after that date will
be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: Comments concerning this
notice should be addressed to Lynne
Westphal, USDA Forest Service, 1033
University Place, Suite 360, Evanston,
IL 60201.
Comments also may be submitted via
facsimile to 847–866–9506 or by email
to [email protected]. Please put
‘‘Comments re: STEW–MAP’’ in the
subject line.
Comments submitted in response to
this notice may be made available to the
public through relevant Web sites and
upon request. For this reason, please do
not include in your comments
information of a confidential nature,
such as sensitive personal information
or proprietary information. If you send
an email comment, your email address
will be automatically captured and
included as part of the comment that is
placed in the public docket and made
available on the Internet. Please note
that responses to this public comment
request containing any routine notice
about the confidentiality of the
communication will be treated as public
comments that may be made available to
the public notwithstanding the
inclusion of the routine notice.
The public may inspect the draft
supporting statement and/or comments
received at USDA Forest Service, 1033
University Place, Suite 360, Evanston,
IL during normal business hours.
Visitors are encouraged to call ahead to
SUMMARY:

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847–866–9311 to facilitate entry to the
building. The public may request an
electronic copy of the draft supporting
statement and/or any comments
received be sent via return email.
Requests should be emailed to
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Lynne Westphal at 847–866–9311
extension 11. Individuals who use
telecommunication devices for the deaf
(TDD) may call the Federal Information
Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339
twenty-four hours a day, every day of
the year, including holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Generic Information Collection
Clearance for STEW–MAP, the
Stewardship Mapping and Assessment
Project.
OMB Number: 0596—NEW.
Type of Request: New.
Abstract: Local environmental
stewardship groups are essential for
ensuring the vibrancy of natural areas in
urban environments. Urban natural
areas provide a range of benefits and
services including stormwater
management, air pollution removal,
urban heat island mitigation, carbon
storage, wildlife habitat, recreation
opportunities, stress reduction, aesthetic
beauty, noise reduction, increased
property values, and reduced energy
use. The work of civic environmental
stewards leverages the efforts of local
government officials in maintaining
these resources, especially in lean
budget times. Civic stewardship
organizations, including nonprofits,
faith-based groups, formal and informal
community groups, and coalitions, are
often involved in, for example, planting
trees, organizing community gardens,
offering environment-themed classes,
engaging with local officials on behalf of
the environment, monitoring plants or
animals, and cleaning up nearby parks
or natural areas. People who do this
work are stewards of their local
environments, even if they do not
normally use the word ‘‘steward’’ or
think of what they do as ‘‘stewardship.’’
In urban areas, the roles of civic
environmental stewards and their levels
of engagement and commitment are
often not understood by land managers
and other decision makers. This means
that the valuable services they provide
are not appreciated and built on to full
advantage. In addition, stewards
themselves may not be aware of others
doing similar work in their area so there
may be lost opportunities for
collaboration between groups.
The purpose of this research is to
gather information on civic stewardship
groups and their efforts such as where

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 170 / Wednesday, September 3, 2014 / Notices
they work, the types of projects they
focus on, how they are organize. This
information will be summarize and
made publicly available online for use
by policy makers, land managers,
environmental professionals, the general
public, stewards themselves, and other
urban resource management
stakeholders.
There are three phases to a STEW–
MAP project:
• Phase One (Census) is a census of
stewardship groups in the target city or
region, essentially putting together a
master list of known stewardship groups
and their contact information.
• Phase Two (Survey) is a survey
which is distributed to all of the
organizations identified in Phase One to
collect information about what they
work on, how their group is structured,
where they work, and what other groups
they collaborate with.
• Phase Three (Follow-Up Interviews)
is follow-up interviews with key
longstanding organizations identified
during Phase Two to collect more
detailed information about their
organizational histories.
A primary goal of STEW–MAP is to
visualize stewardship activities across
the urban landscape. The geographic
information provided by stewardship
groups on the survey (Phase Two) will
allow the researchers to do a spatial
analysis of where stewardship groups
are working, identify ‘‘gaps’’ where little
to no stewardship is being done, and
provide locally relevant geographic
information like what kinds of
stewardship groups are working in
particular places. This geographic
information will be displayed on maps
to show stewards, local land managers,
policy makers, and other interested
stakeholders how stewardship work is
distributed across the region with the
goal of encouraging collaboration,
building innovative partnerships,
increasing organizational capacities, and
generally making stewardship efforts
more effective.
All of the information from STEW–
MAP will help planners, natural
resource decision makers, land
managers, and the general public work
across property jurisdictions,
management regimes and political
boundaries to conserve, protect, and
manage urban natural resources
effectively. It will also be used to
enhance local resource management
efforts by helping public officials, land
managers, and civic stewards connect to
local stewardship groups.
STEW–MAP is being led by
researchers from the Forest Service in
partnership with researchers from
universities and nongovernment

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organizations. The exact makeup of the
research team will vary from location to
location where STEW–MAP is
conducted. The Forest Service, Research
and Development branch is authorized
to conduct basic scientific research to
improve the health of forests and
rangelands involving State, Federal,
Tribal agencies, and private landowners
across multiple jurisdictions including
in urban areas. The study is aligned
with the U.S. Department of Agriculture
policy of an ‘‘all-lands approach’’ to
resource management, which ‘‘requires
land managers to work across
jurisdictions and land-use types,
viewing forests landscapes as an
integrated whole, both ecologically and
socially’’ (National Report on
Sustainable Forests, 2010). This alllands approach applies to urban
ecosystems as well. Our project goals
are consistent with the Forest Service,
Urban and Community Forestry (UCF)
program, which focus on urban forest
ecosystems and the role of stewardship
and trail connections to parks and
public lands that promote health and
sustainability for urban residents. This
study seeks to identify opportunities for
stewardship organizations to better
collaborate and, thus, be more effective
in the stewardship of urban natural
areas.
Due to local geographical and/or
cultural differences, and to meet the
needs of any particular collaborative
effort, we anticipate that there may be
changes to the survey and interview
questions and perhaps in methodology
to accommodate the unique
requirements of individual
communities; therefore, we are
submitting this request for a Generic
Information Collection Clearance for the
information collection activities
associated with the STEW–MAP
program in order to afford us the
flexibility of tailoring the information
collection activities and instruments to
each location, and to apply lessons
learned from previous STEW–MAP
efforts and locations to future efforts
and locations.
Affected Public: Representatives from
civic environmental stewardship
groups, and from State, local, or Tribal
Governments.
Estimate of Burden per Response: 15
to 60 minutes.
Estimated Annual Number of
Respondents:
Phase One (Census): 600
Phase Two (Survey): 15,000
Phase Three (Follow-up Interviews): 300
Estimated Annual Number of
Responses per Respondent: 1.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on
Respondents: 7,925 hours.

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Comment is Invited: Comment is
invited on: (1) Whether this collection
of information is necessary for the stated
purposes and the proper performance of
the functions of the Agency, including
whether the information will have
practical or scientific utility; (2) the
accuracy of the Agency’s estimate of the
burden of the collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (3)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (4) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including the use of
automated, electronic, mechanical, or
other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information
technology.
All comments received in response to
this notice, including names and
addresses when provided, will be a
matter of public record. Comments will
be summarized and included in the
submission request toward Office of
Management and Budget approval.
Dated: August 26, 2014.
Jimmy L. Reaves,
Deputy Chief, Research & Development.
[FR Doc. 2014–20864 Filed 9–2–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3411–15–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Hood/Willamette Resource Advisory
Committee Meeting
Forest Service, USDA.
Notice of meeting.

AGENCY:
ACTION:

The Hood/Willamette
Resource Advisory Committee (RAC)
will meet in Sandy, Oregon. The
Committee is authorized under the
Secure Rural Schools and Community
Self-Determination Act (the Act) (Pub.
L. 110–343) and operates in compliance
with the Federal Advisory Committee
Act of 1972 (5 U.S.C. App 2). The
purpose of the Committee is to improve
collaborative relationships and to
provide advice and recommendations to
the Forest Service concerning projects
and funding consistent with the Title II
of the Act. The meeting is open to the
public. Additional information
concerning the Committee, can be found
by visiting the Committee’s Web site at:
https://fsplaces.fs.fed.us/fsfiles/unit/wo/
secure_rural_schools.nsf.
DATES: The meeting will be held
September 30, 2014 at 10:00 a.m.
All RAC meetings are subject to
cancellation. For status of meeting prior
to attendance, please contact the person
SUMMARY:

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