This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

25464

Vol. 65, No. 85

Tuesday, May 2, 2000

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Research Service

Notice of Federal Invention Available

for Licensing and Intent To Grant

Exclusive License

AGENCY: Agricultural Research Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability and intent.

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that

the following Federally owned

inventions are available for licensing

and that the U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Agricultural Research

Service intends to grant to the

University of Hawaii of Honolulu,

Hawaii, and the Cornell Research

Foundation of Ithaca, New York, an

exclusive license to the following

papaya varieties.

‘‘UH Rainbow,’’ as disclosed in U.S. Plant

Patent Application Serial No. 09/301,389,

filed on April 28, 1999; and

‘‘UH Sunup,’’ as disclosed in U.S. Plant

Patent Application Serial No. 09/300,960,

filed on April 28, 1999; and

‘‘Laie Gold,’’ as disclosed in U.S. Plant Patent

Application Serial No. 09/446,769, filed on

November 22, 1999; and

‘‘Poamoho Gold,’’ as disclosed in U.S. Plant

Patent Application Serial No. 09/490,039,

filed on January 24, 2000.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before July 31, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to: USDA,

ARS, Office of Technology Transfer,

5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Room 4–1158,

Beltsville, Maryland 20705–5131.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: June

Blalock of the Office of Technology

Transfer at the Beltsville address given

above; telephone: 301–504–5989.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Federal Government’s intellectual

property rights to these inventions are

assigned to the United States of

America, as represented by the

Secretary of Agriculture. It is in the

public interest to so license these

inventions as the University of Hawaii

and the Cornell Research Foundation

have submitted a complete and

sufficient application for a license. The

prospective exclusive license will be

royalty-bearing and will comply with

the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C.

209 and 37 CFR 404.7. The prospective

exclusive license may be granted unless,

within ninety (90) days from the date of

this published Notice, the Agricultural

Research Service receives written

evidence and argument which

establishes that the grant of the license

would not be consistent with the

requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37

CFR 404.7.

Richard M. Parry, Jr.,

Assistant Administrator.

[FR Doc. 00–10865 Filed 5–1–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–03–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Farm Service Agency

National Drought Policy Commission

AGENCY: Farm Service Agency, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of Commission’s final

meeting.

SUMMARY: The National Drought Policy

Commission (Commission) shall

conduct a thorough study and submit a

report to the President and Congress on

national drought policy. This notice

announces a meeting to be held on May

16, 2000. The Commission will submit

the final report and discuss its final

recommendations and future activities.

The meeting is open to the public.

DATES: The Commission will conduct a

meeting on May 16, 2000, at 1:00 p.m.

(EDT)

Persons with disabilities who require

accommodations to attend or participate

in this meeting should contact Leona

Dittus, on 202–720–3168, Federal Relay

Service at 1–800–877–8339, or Internet:

leona.dittus@usda.gov, by COB May 9,

2000.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held in

the Williamsburg Room, Jamie L.

Whitten Federal Building, 12th and

Jefferson Drive, SW, Washington, DC.

Comments and statements should be

sent to Leona Dittus, Executive Director,

National Drought Policy Commission,

U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400

Independence Avenue, SW, Room

6701–S, STOP 0501, Washington, DC

20250–0501.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Leona Dittus (202) 720–3168; FAX (202)

720–9688; Internet:

leona.dittus@usda.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

purpose of the Commission is to provide

advice and recommendations to the

President and Congress on the creation

of an integrated, coordinated Federal

policy, designed to prepare for and

respond to serious drought emergencies.

Tasks for the Commission include

developing recommendations that will:

(a) Better integrate Federal laws and

programs with ongoing State, local, and

tribal programs, (b) improve public

awareness of the need for drought

mitigation, prevention, and response

and (c) determine whether all Federal

drought preparation and response

programs should be consolidated under

one existing Federal agency, and, if so,

identify the agency.

Signed at Washington, DC, on April 28,

2000.

Robert D. Springer,

Acting Administrator, Farm Service Agency.

[FR Doc. 00–10985 Filed 4–28–00; 11:57 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–05–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Information Collection; Request for

Comments; National Survey on

Recreation and the Environment

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the

Forest Service announces its intention

to request an extension of a currently

approved, multi-agency-sponsored

information collection. This collection

is necessary to ensure that the Forest

Service and other land managing

agencies meet the recreational needs of

the public, understand the public’s

attitudes and preferences for

management of public lands and the

environment, and meet Congressionally

mandated reporting requirements for the

Renewable Resources Planning Act and

the Government Performance and

Results Act. Information will be

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 85 / Tuesday, May 2, 2000 / Notices 25465

collected from adults in the United

States.

DATES: Comments must be received in

writing on or before July 3, 2000.

ADDRESSES: All comments should be

addressed to H. Ken Cordell, Southern

Research Station, Forest Service, USDA,

320 Green Street, Athens, GA 30602–

2044.

Comments also may be submitted via

facsimile to (706) 559–4266 or by e-mail

to kcordell@fs.fed.us.

The public may inspect comments

received at the offices of the Southern

Research Station, Research Work Unit

SRS–4901, Forest Service, USDA, 320

Green Street, Athens, Georgia.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: H.

Ken Cordell, Southern Research Station,

at (706) 559–4263.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Forest and Rangeland Renewable

Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA),

as amended, directs the Secretary of

Agriculture to periodically assess the

status of National Forests and other

forests and rangeland resources. Similar

legislative assessment mandates form

the basis for each of the other Federal

agencies that sponsor the National

Survey on Recreation and the

Environment. These agencies include

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration, the Economic Research

Service, the Environmental Protection

Agency, the National Park Service, and

the Bureau of Land Management. The

RPA Assessment Update must be

completed by 2002.

Each Federal agency needs to keep

abreast of public outdoor recreational

trends and preferences. The survey

assesses the demands the public places

on Federal and other managed forest,

rangeland and wilderness resources for

recreational purposes and the

perceptions the public has of the way

agencies manage for meeting these

demands. The collected information

enables the agencies to be responsive to

the trends and preferences of the public

while achieving the agencies’ missions

through effective policy, planning, and

management of Federal lands and other

forests and wilderness resources.

The National Survey on Recreation

and the Environment will be used to

collect the data for the assessment

update.

The first National Recreation Survey

(NRS) was conducted in 1960 by the

Outdoor Recreation Resources Review

Commission and has assumed the role

of being the United States’ baseline

survey for outdoor recreation and

related public land interests. The NRS

has served as the official source of

recreation data for the population in the

United States.

The Forest Service assumed the

principle investigative role for the

Survey in 1986 and, in 1994, conducted

the sixth in this continuing national

series. As the lead agency, Forest

Service personnel led the

conceptualization, design, and

execution of the 1994–95 National

Survey on Recreation and the

Environment. The Forest Service is

coordinating NSRE 2000, which began

in 1999. It is the seventh in this series

of Federally-sponsored recreational

surveys.

The NRS survey series has served not

only Federal land managing agencies,

but also educational institutions,

industry, others in the private sector,

State agencies, and other levels of

government.

Description of Information Collection

The following describes the

information collection to be extended:

Title: National Survey on Recreation

and the Environment 2000.

OMB Number: 0596–0127.

Expiration Date of Approval: May 31,

2000.

Type of Request: Extension of a

previously approved information

collection.

Abstract: The collected information

will be used to measure the recreational

demands the public makes on Federally

managed forest and wilderness

resources and other public lands at all

levels of government. The Forest Service

will use the collected information in

developing the 2000 and 2003

Renewable Resources Planning Act

Assessments and the 2000 and 2003

Government Performance and Results

Act Strategic Plans.

To enable analysis of trends, many of

the interviewing protocols used in

earlier surveys have been replicated.

Interviews are being conducted by

telephone with telephone numbers

selected randomly. Persons who answer

the phone are interviewed by University

of Tennessee trained interview

personnel. Bilingual interviewers are

available to overcome language barriers.

Respondents are all age, ethnic,

regional, gender, and household strata

making up the United States’

population. Data is collected from a

random sample of adults residing in the

United States and the District of

Columbia. Sampling is by means of

Random Digit Dialing (RDD), resulting

in natural stratification of the sample by

state, county, and area code. RDD

samples provide an equal probability of

reaching all households in the nation

with telephone access (i.e., a unique

telephone number that rings in that

household only), whether or not that

phone number is listed. University of

Tennessee interviewers collect the data

under an agreement with the Southern

Research Station of the Forest Service.

Questions address the public’s

perception of recreational site

accessibility for disabled persons; the

public’s perception of how Federal

forests, forests on other public lands,

and wilderness resources are managed;

the public’s perception of how well the

Federal government delivers the

preferred recreational services; and the

demographics of the respondents.

Data gathered in this information

collection is not available from other

sources.

Estimate of Annual Burden: 18

minutes.

Type of Respondents: Consenting

adults with access to a telephone.

Estimated Annual Number of

Respondents: 20,000.

Estimated Annual Number of

Responses per Respondent: 1.

Estimated Total Annual Burden on

Respondents: 6,000 hours.

Comment is Invited

The agency invites comments on the

following: (a) Whether the proposed

collection will meet the stated purposes

and is necessary to the performance of

the agency, including whether the

information will have practical or

scientific utility; (b) the accuracy of the

agency’s estimate of the public burden

and validity of the methods and

assumptions used; (c) ways that might

improve the quality, utility, and clarity

of information to be collected; and (d)

ways to minimize the burden on

respondents, including the use of

automated, electronic, mechanical, or

other technological collection

techniques or other forms of information

technology.

Use of Comments

All comments received in response to

this notice, including names and

addresses when provided, will become

a matter of public record. Comments

will be summarized and included in the

request for Office of Management and

Budget approval.

Dated: April 25, 2000.

Randle D. Phillips,

Deputy Chief, Programs and Legislation.

[FR Doc. 00–10837 Filed 5–1–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P