Justification for a Non-Substantive Change Request

Justification for a Non-Substantive Change Request

OMB 0596-0189: Understanding Value Tradeoffs Regarding Fire Hazard Reduction in the WUI Info Collection

USDA Forest Service is requesting a non-substantive change for information collection 0596-0189, Understanding Value Tradeoffs Regarding Fire Hazard Reduction in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). We are requesting approval to administer the survey to landowners in the Hochatown and Broken Bow communities of eastern Oklahoma to assess landowner understanding and engagement with wildfire risk. The WUI is expanding rapidly in this area, leading to increased fire risk. Private lands in this area intersect with the Ouachita National Forest (ONF), which has developed a wildfire mitigation plan to address increasing fuel loading in the area. The survey of private landowners is a crucial link in the wildland fire mitigation network, as understandings of fire risk and land ownership objectives of private landowners may differ from those of science-based, land management and stewardship organizations. Because public and private landowners may have different land management goals and objectives, it is important for public land managers to understand how the actions of private landowners may affect wildland fire risk, including steps private landowners take to reduce fire risk on their properties, their willingness to pay for various mitigation techniques, and how they view wildland fire risk relative to other risks homeowners face. To gather this data, we will use the OMB-approved survey in 0596-0189 that we have administered in other States, with changes only to reference the State of Oklahoma. We are not seeking an increase in burden hours, as we have sufficient hours remaining in what has already been approved.