Published 30-day Federal Register Notice (89 FR 29358)

29358

Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 78 / Monday, April 22, 2024 / Notices
Location and
case No.

Chief executive
officer of community

Community map
repository

Richland .........

City of Forest
Acres (23–04–
4451P).

City Hall, 5209 North
Trenholm Road, Forest
Acres, SC 29206.

https://msc.fema.gov/portal/
advanceSearch.

Jul. 1, 2024 ........

450174

Richland .........

Unincorporated
Areas of Richland County
(23–04–
4451P).
Unincorporated
Areas of
Pierce County
(23–10–
0850P).

The Honorable Thomas
Andrews, Mayor, City of
Forest Acres, City Hall,
5209 North Trenholm
Road, Forest Acres, SC
29206.
Jesica Mackey, Chair,
Richland County, P.O.
Box 192, Columbia, SC
29201.

Richland County, Department of Public Works,
400 Powell Road, Columbia, SC 29203.

https://msc.fema.gov/portal/
advanceSearch.

Jul. 1, 2024 ........

450170

Shannon Reynolds, Chair,
Pierce County, 2401
South 35th Street, Suite
2, Tacoma, WA 98409.

Pierce County Public
Works and Utilities Department, 2401 South
35th Street, Tacoma,
WA 98409.

https://msc.fema.gov/portal/
advanceSearch.

Jul. 30, 2024 ......

530138

State and county

Washington: Pierce

[FR Doc. 2024–08525 Filed 4–19–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110–12–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS–HQ–NWRS–2024–N013;
FF09M21200–245–FXMB1231099BPP0;
OMB Control Number 1018–0193]

Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget; U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service Agreements With
Friends Organizations
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of information collection;
request for comment.
AGENCY:

In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), are proposing to renew an
information collection with revisions.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to
submit comments on or before May 22,
2024.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be
submitted within 30 days of publication
of this notice at https://
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Find this particular information
collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under
Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or
by using the search function. Please
provide a copy of your comments to the
Service Information Collection
Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, MS: PRB (JAO/3W),
5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA
22041–3803 (mail); or by email to Info_
[email protected]. Please reference ‘‘1018–
0193’’ in the subject line of your
comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To
request additional information about

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SUMMARY:

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Online location of
letter of map revision

this ICR, contact Madonna L. Baucum,
Service Information Collection
Clearance Officer, by email at Info_
[email protected], or by telephone at (703)
358–2503. Individuals in the United
States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of
hearing, or have a speech disability may
dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to
access telecommunications relay
services. Individuals outside the United
States should use the relay services
offered within their country to make
international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. You may
also view the ICR at http://
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq.) and its implementing regulations
at 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), all information
collections require approval under the
PRA. We may not conduct or sponsor
and you are not required to respond to
a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
On September 25, 2023, we published
in the Federal Register (88 FR 65741) a
notice of our intent to request that OMB
approve this information collection. In
that notice, we solicited comments for
60 days, ending on November 24, 2023.
In an effort to increase public awareness
of, and participation in, our public
commenting processes associated with
information collection requests, the
Service also published the Federal
Register notice on Regulations.gov
(Docket No. FWS–HQ–NWRS–2023–
0135). We received the following five
comments in response to that notice:
Comment 1: Electronic comment
submitted via Regulations.gov (FWS–
HQ–NWRS–2023–0135–0002) by Jean
Publie on 09/25/2023. The commenter
requests that the Friends program be
shut down and is inherently biased
toward insider groups.
Agency Response to Comment 1: The
commenter did not address the

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Date of
modification

Community
No.

information collection requirements;
therefore, no response is required.
Comment 2: Anonymous electronic
comment submitted via Regulations.gov
(FWS–HQ–NWRS–2023–0135–0006)
received 11/19/2023. The commenter
asked us not to kill any wildlife.
Agency Response to Comment 2: The
commenter did not address the
information collection requirements;
therefore, no response is required.
Comment 3: Electronic comment
submitted via Regulations.gov (FWS–
HQ–NWRS–2023–0135–0007) by A. Hill
on 11/23/2023. The commenter states:
‘‘The proposed USFWS collection of
information from Friends groups is
supposedly being done to ‘‘reduce
paperwork’’ of citizens under the
Paperwork Reduction Act. At least our
Friends group is already working very
closely with our local USFWS manager,
providing all relevant information. We
provide all required information to the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and that
information is provided to members and
our local USFWS manager. We provide
all financial information to our
membership, and any and all of that
information is available to the public
upon request. We are a small, all
volunteer organization—absolutely no
paid staff. All but a minimum portion of
our raised money goes directly to refuge
support, education programs, and other
mission relevant expenses. It is already
hard enough to recruit executive
officers, particularly to positions
overseeing record keeping. Any
additional reporting requirements
would further discourage participation.
If your goal is to cripple smaller friends
groups, your proposal is right on point.
Otherwise, unless there is reason for
concern, let the refuge manager and
friends group work out reporting
requirements.’’
Agency Response to Comment 3: We
must collect Friends information per the
September 2020 audit by the
Department of the Interior (DOI) Office

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 78 / Monday, April 22, 2024 / Notices
of the Inspector General (OIG), who was
concerned that the information was not
available for the program as a whole. No
information will be requested that isn’t
already being collected by the Friends
and that should already be regularly
reported to the refuge manager. We will
allow the refuge manager and Friends to
determine who reports the information
to the Service. This standard reporting
form will allow the Service to tell a
fuller story of the contributions of all
Friends across the country.
Comment 4: Electronic comment
submitted via Regulations.gov (FWS–
HQ–NWRS–2023–0135–0008) by
Charles Paxton on 11/23/2023. The
commenter states:
‘‘I am a board member at large for the
friends of Black Bayou Lake NWR
group, I’m writing on my own behalf as
an individual in this instance and not
representing the board with these
opinions. I think it would be quite
onerous for small groups to have to
report in detail as if they were larger
groups. I warn against that course. Our
members are all volunteers and most of
them are professionals working in other
business areas and while they bring a
wide variety of skills with them to the
group, they may have very little time
nor inclination for extra bureaucracy or
other impositions. I wouldn’t want any
extra imposition to be made upon our
officers.
I don’t see that we would benefit from
it really. Furthermore when questioning
the relevance of such information
collection in the document, I have to say
that I didn’t see anything in the
proposal that justified the use of it
therefore I do question the validity of
collecting it.
Yes, I agree there’s a need to develop
future leaders within our organization
but I’m not sure we need to be very
formal about that, rather we attract
people who are self-motivated. Remote
micromanagement we don’t need. The
covid pandemic eroded our active
support base but ours is a community
conservation project and our leadership
has been recently refreshed. NB there is
already a national mentoring
organization called ANROSP that is
available to us. Thank you for seeking
our opinions.’’
Agency Response to Comment 4: We
will not seek any information that is not
already being collected and reported to
the refuge manager and the IRS. The
justification for the collection is in part
because it is being required by the OIG
per the September 2020 audit, and in
part because we will be able to paint a
full picture of the contributions of
Friends on a national scale, which has

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never been possible without any
standardized data collection.
Comment 5: Electronic comment
submitted via Regulations.gov (FWS–
HQ–NWRS–2023–0135–0009) by
Charles Paxton on 11/23/2023. The
commenter states:
‘‘The new regulations proposed here
are not inclusive and do not facilitate
improvements applicable to all friends
groups, specifically those which operate
and are managed by volunteers alone.
Additionally, the proposal does not go
into specifics regarding its ‘‘non-form’’
collection of information. And the
stringency of the collection of the
reports of activity from friends groups,
applicable to what we assume is all
friends groups, does not take into
account that some groups are poorly
staffed, underfunded, volunteer only,
and limited in its capacity to report on
the standards of groups who are of
greater means and ability.’’
Agency Response to Comment 5: We
will not collect any information outside
of the new form. We are establishing a
tiered system for what is expected to be
reported for smaller groups versus larger
ones, with no information being
requested that should not already be
collected per guidelines from the IRS for
any 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
As part of our continuing effort to
reduce paperwork and respondent
burdens, we invite the public and other
Federal agencies to comment on new,
proposed, revised, and continuing
collections of information. This helps us
assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize
the public’s reporting burden. It also
helps the public understand our
information collection requirements and
provide the requested data in the
desired format.
We are especially interested in public
comment addressing the following:
(1) Whether or not the collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether or not the
information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the
burden for this 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) How might the agency minimize
the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to
respond, including through the use of
appropriate automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of response.

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29359

Comments that you submit in
response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include or
summarize each comment in our request
to OMB to approve this ICR. Before
including your address, phone number,
email address, or other personal
identifying information in your
comment, you should be aware that
your entire comment—including your
personal identifying information—may
be made publicly available at any time.
While you can ask us in your comment
to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
Abstract: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (Service) enters into agreements
and partnerships with nonprofit Friends
groups to facilitate and formalize
collaboration between the parties in
support of mutual goals and objectives
as authorized by:
(1) The Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956
(16 U.S.C. 742a–742j);
(2) The National Wildlife Refuge
System Administration Act of 1966 (16
U.S.C. 668dd–ee), as amended;
(3) The Refuge Recreation Act of 1962
(16 U.S.C. 460k et seq.), as amended;
(4) The Anadromous Fish
Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 757a–757g),
as amended;
(5) The Fish and Wildlife
Coordination Act of 1934 (16 U.S.C.
661–667e), as amended;
(6) The National Wildlife Refuge
System Volunteer and Community
Partnership Enhancement Act of 1998
(16 U.S.C. 742f), as amended; and
(7) The National Fish Hatchery
System Volunteer Act of 2006 (16 U.S.C.
760aa), as amended.
In September 2020, the OIG delivered
its final audit report of the Service’s
Friends Program. The audit outlined six
recommendations, including a
requirement for Friends groups to report
related data to the Service on a regular
basis. In order to collect this
information legally, we must complete
the Information Collection Clearance
process. The Service addressed and
completed all audit recommendations
and commitments (other than
completion of the Information
Collection Clearance process). For
example, the Service amended and
reissued agency policies (Service
Manual chapters 633 FW 1, 633 FW 2,
633 FW 3, and 633 FW 4, available at
https://www.fws.gov/program/policyregulations/library) which guide the
program. We also trained Service staff
and Friends on the new policies.
The Service uses the information
collected to establish efficient and
effective partnerships and working

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 78 / Monday, April 22, 2024 / Notices

relationships with nonprofit Friends
organizations. The agreements provide a
method for the Service to legally accept
donations of funds and other
contributions by people and
organizations through partnerships with
nonprofit (and non-Federal) Friends
organizations. The partnership
agreements identify roles and
responsibilities and identify mutual
projects over the term of the agreement.
Quarterly reviews provide an
opportunity to update contact and
financial information. Annual reporting
documents contributions to the Service.
The Service utilizes a standardized
agreement that describes the substantial
involvement of both parties in mutually
agreed-upon activities and ensures that
both parties have a mutual
understanding of their respective roles,
responsibilities, rights, expectations,
and requirements within the
partnership. The agreement,
preapproved by the DOI Office of the
Solicitor, provides the suggested
language common to most Service
Friends partnerships. The content is
based on DOI and Service policies, but
the Friends and Service sites/programs
may thoughtfully add and delete certain
language to meet their varying
partnership roles and responsibilities
wherever Department and Service
policies do not dictate otherwise. For
use of Service property, we also use a
supplemental partnership agreement,
which provides additional terms and
responsibilities beyond the general
terms of the partnership agreement and
is required only for those Friends
groups that use Service land, facilities,
or equipment.
The partnership agreement and
supplemental agreement are effective for
5 years, with four annual modification
options during the 5-year period. Each
time the agreement is up for 5-year
renewal, the Refuge or Fish Hatchery
Project Leader and the Friends President
or Board will meet to review, modify,
and sign the agreement, as described
above. For an agreement to become
effective or be renewed, the Regional
Director (or designee) must review,
approve, and sign a new agreement
every 5 years.
The Service collects the information
listed below about the administration of
the Friends Program to verify
compliance with agency policy and to
allow the Service to gauge the impact of
the program as a whole. All information
collected will be kept in a secure
manner by the Service and will not be
shared except as an aggregate report. If
the Service wishes to share specific
details to illustrate the strength of the

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Friends program, individual groups will
be asked for their permission to do so.
In addition to the partnership
agreement and supplemental agreement,
and subsequent renewals of the
agreements, the Service collects the
following information about the
administration of the Friends Program:
• Basic program information
documentation, to include documents
such as IRS determination letters
recognizing an organization as tax
exempt, submission of IRS Form 990series forms, bylaws, and articles of
incorporation;
• Internal financial control
documentation for the organization;
• Recordkeeping requirements
documenting accountability for
donations and expenditures;
• Documentation providing assurance
that donations, revenues, and
expenditures benefit the applicable
refuge or hatchery;
• Annual performance reporting
(donations, revenues, and expenditures)
and number of memberships (if
applicable);
• Additional information that may be
included as part of quarterly, annual,
and in-depth program reviews; and
• Information related to fundraising
agreements for activities described in
212 FW 8.
Over the life of this clearance, the
Service plans to develop a digital
platform and process to collect
information directly from Friends
groups. Until that occurs, Friends
groups will submit information through
form and non-form responses.
Proposed Revisions to This Information
Collection
With this submission, we are
proposing the following revisions to the
existing information collection:
1. (New) National Friends Program:
Friends Academy Application (Form 3–
2565)—The Service will use the Friends
Academy Application form with the
Friends Academy, an advanced training
program for board members and staff of
Friends organizations who are beyond
the formative stages of development.
The overarching purpose of the
Academy is to cultivate emerging
Friends leaders by providing a broader
understanding of the Service and
enhancing skills to increase the
effectiveness of Friends/Service
partnerships.
This program will be exclusively
offered to Friends board members and
staff who have been serving for at least
1 year. In addition, people who have at
least 2 years of involvement as Friends
members or volunteers may be
considered. People eligible for the

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program fall into two application
pools—Service staff or other Friends
may nominate a Friend, or a Friend may
self-nominate. These application forms
will be completed and submitted
directly to the National Friends
Coordinator specified in the
‘‘Application Submission Instructions’’
section.
• Part I (Region and Application
Type) of each application simply gathers
the servicing regional office and
specifies the type of nomination (Selfnomination or Staff nominating a
Friend) that dictates which sections will
be filled out.
• Part II (Self-Nomination) and Part
III (Nominating a Friend) both gather
basic information to identify the
nominee (name, address, phone
number, and email address) and specify
the nominee’s baseline credentials for
gaining entry to the Academy program
(Friends organization affiliation, years
of affiliation, Service programs
supported, volunteer history, board
position, committees served). In
addition, these sections also solicit
professional information that helps the
Academy’s selection personnel evaluate
the nominee’s merits as a candidate.
Each of these parts gather identical
information regarding the nominee.
• Part IV (Required Service Site or
Program Manager Endorsement and
Signature) requires gathering
endorsements and signatures from both
the nominee’s Service Site Program
Manager and from a member of the
nominee’s Friends Organization.
• Part V (Required Service Site or
Program Manager Endorsement and
Signature Continued) compiles the
signatures of all the individuals
involved in preparing the application:
self-applicant or nominating official,
project leader or manager, and Friends
Organization representative.
2. (New) National Friends Program:
Friends Mentoring Visit Form (Form 3–
2566)—Friends groups will use the
Mentoring Visit Form to request a
mentor visit. The form is completed by
the Friends group, but the Service staff
at the field station which the Friends
support must be consulted and must
sign the form before it is submitted to
Service headquarters.
3. (New) National Friends Program:
Friends Mentor Application (Form 3–
2567)—The National Friends Mentoring
Program will be open to both Service
staff and members of the public (e.g.,
retired Service Employees, Friends
members). Applicants will volunteer to
serve in a cadre of trained mentor
professionals. These professionals will
use the National Friends Program
Mentor Application form to apply to

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enter into mentoring relationships with
current Friends groups who request this
service. The mentor relationship
typically lasts for one full year and
involves an on-site visit to the Friends
group and Service site which the
Friends group supports in an official
capacity (i.e., has a Friends Partnership
Agreement). The Service generally
issues a call for mentor applications
every 3 to 5 years, at most.
4. (Revised) Internal Financial Control
Documentation (Forms 990 or 990–EZ
Filers)—We reduced the number of
respondents specific to this requirement
to reflect only those Friends groups that
file Forms 990 or 990–EZ. Tax
information for this collection will be
retrieved by Service members from
information published on the IRS
website and not requested from Friends
groups.
5. (New) Internal Financial Control
Documentation (Forms 990–N or
Postcard Filers)—About 80 percent of
the Service’s Friends groups are very
small, each with annual gross receipts
totaling $50,000 or less. This means that
they do not file a 990 or 990–EZ (the
Internal IRS forms on which
organizations must declare all donations
and revenues). Rather, these smaller
groups, which represent most of our
partners, are required to file only the
990–N, or e-Postcard. The 990–N or ePostcard simply asks for confirmation
that the organization has annual gross
receipts totaling $50,000 or less.
Collection of this information, per the
OIG audit, from Friends groups filing
the 990–N or ePostcard is not
duplicative of what the IRS requires
from 80 percent of our Friends groups,
nor is it publicly available information
on the IRS website. Therefore, we need
to request this information on our
Annual Report (for only those small
entities filing the 990–N or e-Postcard).
Title of Collection: U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service Agreements with
Friends Organizations.
OMB Control Number: 1018–0193.
Form Numbers: 3–2565 through 3–
2567.
Type of Review: Revision of a
currently approved collection.
Respondents/Affected Public: Friends
Groups of the National Wildlife Refuge
System.
Total Estimated Number of Annual
Respondents: 1,693.
Total Estimated Number of Annual
Responses: 1,693.
Estimated Completion Time per
Response: Varies from 2 hours to 40
hours, depending on activity.
Total Estimated Number of Annual
Burden Hours: 20,285.

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Respondent’s Obligation: Required to
obtain or retain a benefit.
Frequency of Collection: On occasion.
Total Estimated Annual Nonhour
Burden Cost: None.
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor and a person is not required to
respond to a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number.
The authority for this action is the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
Madonna Baucum,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2024–08517 Filed 4–19–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333–15–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS–HQ–MB–2024–0044;
FXMB1231099BPP0–245–FF09M30000;
OMB Control Number 1018–New]

Agency Information Collection
Activities; National Double-Crested
Cormorant Survey
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of information collection;
request for comment.
AGENCY:

In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), are proposing a new
information collection.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to
submit comments on or before June 21,
2024.
ADDRESSES: Send your comments on the
information collection request (ICR) by
one of the following methods (please
reference ‘‘1018–DCC’’ in the subject
line of your comments):
• Internet (preferred): https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments
on Docket No. FWS–HQ–JAO–2024–
0044.
• U.S. Mail: Service Information
Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, 5275 Leesburg
Pike, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), Falls Church,
VA 22041–3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To
request additional information about
this ICR, contact Madonna L. Baucum,
Service Information Collection
Clearance Officer, by email at Info_
[email protected], or by telephone at (703)
358–2503. Individuals in the United
States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of
hearing, or have a speech disability may
SUMMARY:

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29361

dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to
access telecommunications relay
services. Individuals outside the United
States should use the relay services
offered within their country to make
international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq.) and its implementing regulations
at 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), all information
collections require approval under the
PRA. We may not conduct or sponsor
and you are not required to respond to
a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
As part of our continuing effort to
reduce paperwork and respondent
burdens, we invite the public and other
Federal agencies to comment on new,
proposed, revised, and continuing
collections of information. This helps us
assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize
the public’s reporting burden. It also
helps the public understand our
information collection requirements and
provide the requested data in the
desired format.
We are especially interested in public
comment addressing the following:
(1) Whether or not the collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether or not the
information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the
burden for this 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) How might the agency minimize
the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to
respond, including through the use of
appropriate automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of response.
Comments that you submit in
response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include or
summarize each comment in our request
to OMB to approve this ICR. Before
including your address, phone number,
email address, or other personal
identifying information in your
comment, you should be aware that
your entire comment—including your
personal identifying information—may
be made publicly available at any time.
While you can ask us in your comment
to withhold your personal identifying

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