27558 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 96 /Tuesday, May 19, 1998 / Notices

is present that requires either free or

unbounded water or soil moistures in

excess of what is normally found in the

area. Lands within this management

area are suitable for timber harvest as

long as soil, water, vegetation, fish, and

dependent wildlife species are

protected. These suitable lands must

also be adjacent to other management

areas suitable for timber management.

The Forest Service will consider a

range of alternatives. One of these will

be the ‘‘no action’’ alternative, in which

none of the proposed activities would

be implemented. Additional alternatives

will examine varying levels and

locations for the proposed activities in

response to issues and other resource

values.

The EIS will analyze the direct,

indirect, and cumulative environmental

effects of the alternatives. Past, present,

and projected activities on both private

and National Forest lands will be

considered, including the effects caused

by recent and past harvesting and road

construction on private lands. The EIS

will disclose the analysis of site-specific

mitigation measures and their

effectiveness.

Public participation is an important

part of the analysis, commencing with

the initial scoping process (40 CFR

1501.7), which will occur during May

1998. In addition to this initial scoping,

the public may visit Forest Service

officials at any time during the analysis

and prior to the decision. The Forest

Service will be seeking information,

comments, and assistance from Federal,

State, and local agencies and other

individuals or organizations who may

be interested in or affected by the

proposed action. No public meetings are

scheduled at this time.

Comments from the public and other

agencies will be used in preparation of

the Draft EIS. The scoping process will

be used to:

1. Identify potential issues.

2. Identify issues to be analyzed in

depth.

3. Eliminate insignificant issues or

those which have been covered by a

relevant previous environmental

analysis, such as the Gallatin Forest

Plan EIS.

4. Identify alternatives to the

proposed action.

5. Identify potential environmental

effects of the proposed action and

alternatives (i.e., direct, indirect, and

cumulative effects).

6. Determine potential cooperating

agencies and task assignments.

The following principle issues have

been identified so far:

1. The potential effect of proposed

timber harvest and associated road

development on grizzly bear habitat

(primarily security and cover).

2. The potential of proposed timber

harvest and associated road

development activities to displace

grizzly bears use within the sale area.

3. The potential for proposed harvest

and associated road development to

affect water quality and stream

conditions.

Other issues commonly associated

with timber harvesting and road

construction include: effects on native

fisheries, old growth habitat, big game

species, sensitive wildlife and plant

species, cultural resources, soils, and

scenery in the area. This list will be

verified, expanded, or modified based

on public scoping for this proposal.

The Draft EIS is expected to be filed

with the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) and available for public

review in August of 1998. At that time,

the EPA will publish a Notice of

Availability of the Draft EIS in the

Federal Register. The comment period

on the Draft EIS will be 45 days from the

date the EPA’s notice of availability

appears in the Federal Register. It is

every important that those interested in

management of the Taylor Fork project

area participate at that time. The Final

EIS is scheduled to be completed by

mid-November, 1998.

The Forest Service believes, at this

early stage, it is important to give

reviewers notice of several court rulings

related to public participation in the

environmental review process. First,

reviewers of draft environmental impact

statements must structure their

participation in the environmental

review of the proposal so that it is

meaningful and alerts an agency to the

reviewer’s position and contentions.

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v.

NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 533 (1978). Also,

environmental objections that could be

raised at the draft environmental impact

statement stage but that are not raised

until after completion of the final

environmental impact statement may be

waived or dismissed by the courts. City

of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2d 1016,

1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and Wisconsin

Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 F.Supp.

1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). Because of

these court rulings, it is very important

that those interested in this proposed

action participate by the close of the 30-

day scoping comment period so that

substantive comments and objections

are made available to the Forest Service

at a time when it can meaningfully

consider them and respond to them in

developing issues and alternatives. To

assist the Forest Service in identifying

and considering issues, comments

should be as specific to this proposal as

possible. Reviewers may wish to refer to

the Council on Environmental Quality

Regulations for implementing the

procedural provisions of the National

Environmental Policy Act at 40 CFR

1503.3 in addressing these points.

I am the responsible official for this

environmental impact statement. My

address is Gallatin National Forest, P.O.

Box 130, Federal Building, Bozeman,

MT 59771.

Dated: May 6, 1998.

David P. Garber,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 98–13287 Filed 5–18–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Submission for OMB Review;

Comment Request

DOC has submitted to the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) for

clearance the following proposal for

collection of information under the

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction

Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).

Agency: Bureau of the Census.

Title: Annual Retail Trade Report.

Form Number(s): B–151, B–151–A, B–

151D, B–153, B–153D.

Agency Approval Number: 0607–

0013.

Type of Request: Revision of a

currently approved collection.

Burden: 9,817 hours.

Number of Respondents: 23,700.

Avg Hours Per Response: 25 minutes.

Needs and Uses: The Bureau of the

Census conducts the Annual Retail

Trade Survey to collect annual totals of

sales, inventories, inventory valuation

methods, purchases, and accounts

receivable balances from a sample of

retail establishments in the United

States. The estimates compiled from this

survey are critical to the accurate

measurement of total economic activity

and are used in computing such

indicators of economic well-being as the

Gross Domestic Product and the

National Income and Product Accounts.

Survey results also provide valuable

information for economic policy

decisions and actions by the

government and are widely used by

private businesses, trade organizations,

professional associations, and others for

market research and analysis.

This request for revision informs

OMB of a recent change in sample

design. This redesign has increased the

number of respondents by about 3,000,

while decreasing, on average, the

number of data requests to each

respondent.
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 96 /Tuesday, May 19, 1998 / Notices 27559

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit.

Frequency: Annually.

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory.

Legal Authority: Title 13, Sections

182, 224, and 225.

OMB Desk Officer: Nancy Kirkendall,

(202) 395–7313.

Copies of the above information

collection proposal can be obtained by

calling or writing Linda Engelmeier,

DOC Forms Clearance Officer, (202)

482–3272, Department of Commerce,

room 5327, 14th and Constitution

Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230.

Written comments and

recommendations for the proposed

information collection should be sent on

or before June 18, 1998 to Nancy

Kirkendall, OMB Desk Officer, room

10201, New Executive Office Building,

Washington, DC 20503.

Dated: May 13, 1998.

Linda Engelmeier,

Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Office

of Management and Organization.

[FR Doc. 98–13172 Filed 5–18–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–07–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of the Census

Field Representative Exit

Questionnaire

ACTION: Proposed collection; comment

request.

SUMMARY: The Department of

Commerce, as part of its continuing

effort to reduce paperwork and

respondent burden, invites the general

public and other Federal agencies to

take this opportunity to comment on

proposed and/or continuing information

collections, as required by the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Pub.

L. 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

DATES: Written comments must be

submitted on or before July 20, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments

to Linda Engelmeier, Departmental

Forms Clearance Officer, Department of

Commerce, Room 5327, 14th and

Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington,

DC 20230.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information or

copies of the information collection

instrument(s) and instructions should

be directed to Geraldine Burt, Census/

Field Division, Room 1684/FOB 3,

Washington, DC 20233–4400, and 301–

457–1935.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

Retention of trained field interviewing

staff is a major concern for the Census

Bureau because of both the monetary

costs associated with employee

turnover, as well as the potential impact

on data quality. The Field

Representative Exit Survey is used to

collect data from a sample of our former

current survey interviewers (field

representatives) and Nonresponse

Follow-up (NRFU) and Quality Check

(QC) interviewers (enumerators)

employed during census operations.

The purpose of the survey is to

determine the reasons for interviewer

turnover and what the Bureau might

have done or do to influence

interviewing staff not to leave.

In addition to using form BC–1294 to

collect data from field representatives

who have left the Bureau, we will use

Form BC–1294(D) to collect data from

dress rehearsal and census enumerators

on the factors that affected their

decision as to whether to stay with an

operation until it was completed. Since

the nature of census enumerator work

differs from current surveys

interviewing (short term, intensive and

concentrated work rather than

continuing and diverse) we could not

use the existing questionnaire, ‘‘as-is.’’

The questions and response choices on

the BC–1294(D) have been tailored to

census operations and are more indepth, although they cover largely the

same topics as the BC–1294.

Additionally, questions about a

supplemental pay plan are included on

the BC–1294(D). The 1998 Dress

Rehearsal is the Bureau’s final

opportunity to test its planned

operations and procedures in a

simulated census environment in

preparation for the 2000 Census.

Interviewer turnover is of heightened

concern during a decennial census

because of the short time periods for

data collection operations. Because of

this heightened concern, Form BC–

1294(D) was recently added to this

clearance.

The information collected via the

survey will help the Census Bureau

develop plans to reduce turnover in its

current survey and decennial

interviewing staff. This in turn should

allow for better informed management

decisions regarding the field work force

and the implementation of more

effective pay plans and interviewer

training for both current and decennial

interviewers. Prior research has

suggested a need for a more flexible pay

plan for the decennial interviewing staff

in order to recruit sufficient number of

interviewers and reduce turnover. As

part of the 1998 Dress Rehearsal, the

Census Bureau will be testing a

supplemental pay plan in which pay

rates are tied to the local labor market

and based partially on interviewer

performance and whether interviewers

stay to complete their assignments.

Questions on the experimental

decennial pay plans asked of dress

rehearsal enumerators will be used to

determine the impact of the variable and

supplemental pay rates on enumerator

turnover as well as the impact and

effectiveness of decennial enumerator

training.

II. Method of Collection

The data will be collected by

telephone. Interviews with former field

representatives should take no more

than five (5) minutes. Because of the indepth nature of some of the questions

on the BC–1294(D) and the additional

questions on the experimental decennial

pay plans, interviews with former NRFU

and QC enumerators should take no

more than fifteen (15) minutes. We

estimate that interviews will be

conducted with a total of 160 field

representatives and about 2,500

enumerators on a yearly basis.

For former field representatives:

Approximately every month, a sample

of one-half of all interviewers who

voluntarily resigned within the period

will be contacted by telephone to

complete a questionnaire.

For 1998 Dress Rehearsal

enumerators: Beginning approximately

two weeks after the start of NRFU and

QC operations, all enumerators who

have continuously been in a non-pay

status for a period of two weeks will be

contacted by telephone to complete a

questionnaire.

III. Data

OMB Number: 0607–0404.

Form Number: BC–1294, BC–1294(D).

Type of Review: Regular Submission.

Affected Public: Former Bureau

Interviewers (Field Representatives and

Enumerators).

Estimated Number of Respondents:

160 Former Current Survey

Interviewers; 2,500 Former Dress

Rehearsal Enumerators.

Estimated Time Per Response: 5

minutes for former current survey

interviewers; 15 minutes for dress

rehearsal enumerators.

Estimated Total Annual Burden

Hours: 13 hours for former current

survey interviewers; 625 hours for dress

rehearsal enumerators; Total is 638

hours.