1024-0224 NPS Programmatic Review HAFE

NPS Form 10-201 (Rev. 09/2019)
National Park Service

OMB Control No. 1024-0224
Expiration Date 05/31/2023

PROGRAMMATIC REVIEW AND CLEARANCE PROCESS
FOR NPS-SPONSORED PUBLIC SURVEYS

The scope of the Programmatic Review and Clearance Process for NPS-Sponsored Public Surveys is limited and will only include individual surveys of
park visitors, potential park visitors, and residents of communities near parks. Use of the programmatic review will be limited to non-controversial
surveys of park visitors, potential park visitors, and/or residents of communities near parks that are not likely to include topics of significant interest
in the review process. Additionally, this process is limited to non-controversial information collections that do not attract attention to significant,
sensitive, or political issues. Examples of significant, sensitive, or political issues include: seeking opinions regarding political figures; obtaining
citizen feedback related to high-visibility or high-impact issues like the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park, the delisting of specific
Endangered Species, or drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

SUBMISSION DATE:

2/2/2021

PROJECT TITLE: Research to Inform Climbing Site Management and Planning at Harper’s Ferry National
Historic Park
ABSTRACT: (not to exceed 150 words)

This survey effort is designed to scope potential management-oriented actions to assist Harper’s Ferry National Historic Park (HAFE)
select next steps for drafting a climbing management plan. Additionally, this survey will assist in understanding a specific population
of users that utilize HAFE, rock climbers.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION:
NAME:

Dr. Chris Zajchowski

TITLE

Assistant Professor

AFFILIATION:

Old Dominion University

ADDRESS:

2015 Student Recreation Center, Norfolk, VA 23505

EMAIL:

[email protected]

PHONE:

757-683-5078

PHONE:

(202) 438-0028

PARK OR PROGRAM LIAISON CONTACT INFORMATION:
NAME:

Tammy Stidham

TITLE

Deputy Associate Area Director – Lands and Planning

AFFILIATION:

U.S. National Park Service

ADDRESS:

1100 Ohio Drive SW, Washington DC 20242

EMAIL:

[email protected]

RECORDS RETENTION - PERMANENT. Transfer all permanent records to NARA 15 years after closure. (NPS Records Schedule, Resource
Management And Lands (Item 1.A.2) (N1-79-08-1)).

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NPS Form 10-201 (Rev. 09/2019)
National Park Service

OMB Control No. 1024-0224

PROJECT INFORMATION:
Where will the collection take place? Online
Sampling Period Start Date: 4/1/2021

Sampling Period End Date: 10/21/2021

Type of Information Collection Instrument: (Check ALL that Apply)
£ Mail-Back Questionnaire
£ Face-to-Face Interview

£ On-Site Questionnaire
£ Focus Groups

Will an electronic device be used to collect information?

£ Telephone Survey
X Other (List) Online Survey

£ No X Yes – Type of Device: computers

SURVEY JUSTIFICATION:
Social science research in support of park planning and management is mandated in the NPS Management Policies 2006
(Section 8.11.1, “Social Science Studies”). The NPS pursues a policy that facilitates social science studies in support of the
NPS mission to protect resources and enhance the enjoyment of present and future generations (National Park Service
Act of 1916, 38 Stat 535, 16 USC 1, et seq.). NPS policy mandates that social science research will be used to provide an
understanding of park visitors, the non-visiting public, gateway communities and regions, and human interactions with
park resources. Such studies are needed to provide a scientific basis for park planning and development.
The proposed research aligns with Secretary of the Interior priorities and strategic plan for 2018-2022. The
outcomes of this project will provide information that will directly align with three key mission areas:
conserving land and water, expanding outdoor recreation and access, and modernizing organization and
infrastructure for the next 100 years. These three mission areas will be fulfilled by a) informing land use
planning processes for public use and access, b) fostering partnerships to achieve balanced stewardship and
use of public lands, c) enhancing public satisfaction at HAFE, and d) prioritizing infrastructure needs
(Interior FY 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, 2018). The research contributes to urban proximate park initiatives by
increasing access for urban and rural populations to nearby national park units.
HAFE has been working with local stakeholders to develop research to understand rock climber perceptions of
climbing management within the park. HAFE manages potential sites for rock climbing in Maryland, Virginia, and
West Virginia. Several management concerns previously generated rock-climbing closures throughout the Park. The
park is currently attempting to enforce existing closures covering all rock-climbing areas in Virginia and West Virginia
areas of the Park. There are also seasonal closures in the Maryland Heights area for Peregrine Falcon nesting, and a
landslide in 2018 led to a year-long closure of the Maryland Heights area. These closures intended to protect
sensitive cultural and natural resources, are often misinterpreted by the public in general and by the rock-climbing
community specifically. The managers at HAFE do not currently have the needed information about rock climbers
who utilize this area, such as their perceptions of use of HAFE and their perceptions of current or potential
management actions related to rock climbing in the park. The results of this study will aid in the creation of a rockclimbing management plan that the park is in the beginning stages of developing.
This work is guided by the steps and principles of the Interagency Visitor Use Management Framework, which
identifies the interdependent relationship between resource conditions, visitor experiences, and management
actions as a strategic area of focus (VUM, 2016). The outcomes of this project will provide information that will
assist HAFE managers to a) understand who is visiting rock climbing sites (e.g., demographics),
including how and when they visit the sites, b) identify visitors' climbing preferences, desires and
motivations, c) understand climbers' needs and desires for activities, services, facilities and potential future
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NPS Form 10-201 (Rev. 09/2019)
National Park Service

OMB Control No. 1024-0224

opportunities, and d) perceptions towards possible and current management actions related to rock climbing. The
resulting work will have high capacity to be used in park strategic planning efforts to identify efficient paths towards
infrastructure improvements, visitor services, amenities and appropriate staffing for rock climbing in the park.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY:
(A) Respondent Universe:
The respondent universe for this collection will be a sample of adult rock-climbing users (age 18 or older) at HAFE. We
will be utilizing HAFE partner organization emails and list-serves to reach those who have rock climbed at the park. The
Access Fund, and the Mid-Atlantic Climbers Association will be the primary organization for this study. The number of
climbers to this area is currently unknow, and thus an appropriate sample size for this group is not known. However, we
do know the membership numbers of the specific organizations, which can provide a broad sense of the number of
possible participants (Access Fund – ~20,000 members and Mid-Atlantic Climbers Association – ~3,000)
All partner organizations were chosen based on conversations with park staff, planners and researchers, and are
considered to be a representative of those who rock climb in the park. These partner organizations will be asked to
assist in the distribution of this survey during the study period (April 1, 2021 - October 21, 2021)
(B) Sampling Plan / Procedures:
We will work with NPS identified partner organizations to collect organization member emails for distribution of the
survey. The emails will be inserted in Qualtrics (a survey management platform), and each email will receive a unique
survey identifier for that participant. This will begin on April 1, 2021 and continue through October 21, 2021 with 2
additional emails being sent out on October 8, 2021 and October 15, 2021.
(C) Instrument Administration:
An online survey will be administered via email using Qualtrics survey software. The initial email and two reminders will
ensure that we receive the maximum response possible and is standard online survey protocol (Dillman, Smith, &
Christian, 2014). The initial contact will introduce the survey purpose and intent and request responded participation.
Respondents will receive the following message:
“Old Dominion University and Kansas State University is conducting a survey for the Harpers
Ferry National Historic Park to better understand opinion and perceptions related to your
rock-climbing experience in the park. Your participation is voluntary, and all responses will be
kept anonymous. By clicking on “continue” below, you are consenting to completing the
survey. Thank you for your assistance and helping the park!
If they click “continue” – the first survey question will be presented
If they click “do not wish to participate” – take them to a page that says: “would you be
willing to answer a few non-response bias questions to help us with our research? This
should only 1 minute.
Yes – go to non-response bias questions (listed below).
No – hard refusal – thank you for your time.

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NPS Form 10-201 (Rev. 09/2019)
National Park Service

OMB Control No. 1024-0224

(D) Expected Response Rate / Confidence Level:
The number of climbers that utilize the routes in HAFE is currently not known. Park managers have suggested that
partners, The Access Fund and Mid-Atlantic Climbers Association, would be reliable organizations to get a valid number
of responses. Our population for this study is rock climbers who participate in rock climbing in HAFE. In a similar study
as proposed here, in a similar context, a population estimate of 7,500 unique individual climbers were found (Maples et
al., 2017), and based on this estimate size and using a confidence level of 95% (a statistical level of certainty that the
population mean is found within the sample) and a confidence interval of 5% (a margin of error in which the population
mean is not found within the sample), our study requires 357 responses. We will utilize the Access Fund and the MidAtlantic Climbers Association email lists to contact our population as it is the best possible means of doing so. At this
time, these lists are projected by both organizations to include approximately 23,000 email accounts of persons who are
members of these organization and have climbed at HAFE. The email lists include climbers from around the United
States, including HAFE rock climbers. As we cannot determine how many persons on the lists have actually climbed at
HAFE, we project 6,000 email addresses of contacts fitting the desired sample. We will include a question to ensure we
filter respondents down to only persons climbed at HAFE. Because not all of the people on the email lists have climbed
at HAFE, the expected response rate is difficult to calculate. Of the 23,000 emails we send out, it is likely that the
number of people who climbed in this area (n = 6,000), will be a small percentage of these lists. In a study by Sharp et
al. (2019) using a similar methodology for finding rock climbers to a specific area, and using a similar sample of emails,
13% of 6,000 emails yielded responses from those who rock climbed in the area of interest. Thus we will be using this
number (780) as our target number of participants (Table 1).
Table 1. Anticipated Response Rates
Location

Online

Initial Contacts

Max Expected
Acceptance
13%

Non-respondents
(Soft refusals)
87%

Non-response
survey
1%

Hard
Refusals
80%

6,000

780

5,220

100

5,120

(E) Strategies for dealing with potential non-response bias:
When a respondent chooses not to take the survey, they will be sent to a screen that asks them to answer nonresponse bias questions. The following questions will be the non-response bias check for this collection:
1) How many years have you climbed at HAFE?
2) How many years have you been a climber?
3) What is your gender? (select one): ____male ____ female ____
(F) Description of any pre-testing and peer review of the methods and/or instrument:
The questionnaire format and variations of many of the questions have been used in many survey instruments
previously approved by OMB (e.g., Buffalo National River, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area). The questions
are from the currently approved list of questions in NPS Pool of Known Questions. Variations of the questions have been
reviewed by HAFE managers and faculty at Old Dominion University and Kansas State University. The questionnaire was
tested on six members of the general public for burden length and clarity of questions.

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NPS Form 10-201 (Rev. 09/2019)
National Park Service

OMB Control No. 1024-0224

BURDEN ESTIMATES:
Overall, we plan to contact 6,000 member of the Access Fund and the Mid-Atlantic Climbers Association who
have climbed at HAFE. Based on previous, similar studies, we anticipate that 13% (n=780) of the individuals contacted
will agree to participate and complete the 10 minute on-line survey (780 respondents x 10 minutes = 130 hours). We
expect that 5,220 (87%) visitors will refuse to participate because they have never climbed at HAFE.
Of all the visitors refusing to accept the invitation (n=5,220) we will ask if they would be willing to answer the three
questions that will serve as the non-response bias check for this collection. We expect that 1% of refusals will agree to
answer the non-response bias questions. We anticipate that the time to complete the non-response bias check will
take about one minute, resulting in 1 hours and 40 minutes respondent burden for the non-response survey (100
respondents x 1 minutes = 1 hours and 40 minutes).
The remaining 5,200 visitors refusing to accept any part of the invitation to participate will not incur a respondent
burden and for those individuals and we will not know their reason for refusal at all because they did not open the
invitation link.
The overall respondent burden for this collection is 132 hours, this includes the time it takes to complete the
on-line questionnaire (including initial contact) plus the non-response survey (Table 4).
Table 4. Burden Estimates
Responses

Completion Time *
(minutes)

Burden Hours
(rounded up)

Completed questionnaire*

780

10

130

Non-response survey

100

1

2

Total burden requested under this ICR: 132

* Initial contact time of one minute is added to the time to complete the surveys.
REPORTING PLAN:
The study results will be presented in internal agency reports for NPS managers at the park. Response frequencies will
be tabulated, and measures of central tendency computed (e.g., mean, median, mode, as appropriate). The reports will
be archived with the NPS Social Science Program for inclusion in the NPS Social Sciences Studies Collection as required
by the NPS Programmatic Approval Process. Hard copies will be available upon request.
COVID-19 Statement:
This study is crucial for understanding rock climbing use at HAFE and online administration is the safest way to gain this
information. The park wishes to not wait until pandemic condition improve to implement on-site administration to try
and collect this data.

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NPS Form 10-201 (Rev. 09/2019)
National Park Service

OMB Control No. 1024-0224

NOTICES
Privacy Act Statement
General: This information is provided pursuant to Public Law 93-579 (Privacy Act of 1974), December 21, 1984, for individuals
completing this form.
Authority: National Park Service Research mandate (54 USC 100702)
Purpose and Uses: This information will be used by The NPS Information Collections Coordinator to ensure appropriate

documentation of information collections conducted in areas managed by or that are sponsored by the National Park
Service.

Effects of Nondisclosure: Providing information is mandatory to submit Information Collection Requests to Programmatic Review

Process.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

We are collecting this information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501) and is authorized by the
National Park Service Research mandate (54 USC 100702). This information will be used by The NPS Information
Collections Coordinator to ensure appropriate documentation of information collections conducted in areas managed by
or that are sponsored by the National Park Service. All parts of the form must be completed in order for your request to
be considered. We may not conduct or sponsor and you are not required to respond to, this or any other Federal
agency-sponsored information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. OMB has reviewed
and approved The National Park Service Programmatic Review Process and assigned OMB Control Number 1024-0224.
Estimated Burden Statement
Public Reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 60 minutes per collection, including the time it takes for reviewing
instructions, gathering information and completing and reviewing the form. This time does not include the editorial time required to
finalize the submission. Comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form should be sent to the Information
Collection Clearance Coordinator, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Dr., Fort Collins, CO 80525.

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