916 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 6 / Friday, January 9, 2009 / Notices 

the levied river channels into the 

Atchafalaya River Basin. The 

Atchafalaya River Basin Floodway is 65 

miles long, 15 miles wide, and lies on 

either side of the Atchafalaya River from 

Krotz Springs, Louisiana, to Morgan 

City, Louisiana. This floodway is a 

southern extension of the Morganza and 

West Atchafalaya Floodways at the 

lower end of the Atchafalaya River 

Basin. Flow is discharged into the 

Atchafalaya Bay and Gulf of Mexico 

through the lower Atchafalaya River at 

Morgan City and through an artificial 

channel (known as the Wax Lake Outlet) 

about 10 miles west of Morgan City. 

The Atchafalaya River Basin has been 

described as the greatest river swamp in 

the United States. It encompasses more 

than one-half million acres of wetlands 

that may produce as much wildlife as 

any area in the country. The basin 

provides habitat for a diversity of 

wildlife species. Its waters also support 

a tremendous sport and commercial 

fisheries’ resource. 

For years there was dispute over the 

conservation of the basin. Flood control, 

agriculture, energy development, 

recreation, and other interests in the 

basin were difficult to reconcile. All 

parties involved developed an 

agreement to resolve the major disputes. 

The agreement, which is incorporated in 

a feasibility study developed by the 

Corps for the basin, calls for specific 

flood control measures, water flow rates, 

and the purchase of flowage and 

conservation easements designed to 

keep the basin in a natural state, while 

providing navigation and flood 

protection for surrounding 

communities. 

The agreement also calls for the 

acquisition and management of 90,000 

acres within the basin for public access. 

The Dow Chemical Company donated 

40,000 acres. The acquisition of the 

remaining 50,000 acres is to be split 

between the State of Louisiana and the 

Federal Government. 

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife 

and Fisheries (LDWF) purchased 11,780 

acres on September 13, 1983, and 

created the Sherburne Wildlife 

Management Area. In the 1984 

Supplemental Appropriations Act (Pub. 

L. 98–396) passed by Congress and 

signed into law by President Reagan, a 

total of $10 million from the Land and 

Water Conservation Fund was 

appropriated to the Service to acquire 

lands and waters in the Atchafalaya 

River Basin in accordance with statutory 

authority applicable to the Fish and 

Wildlife Act of 1956. The land was 

purchased from the Iberville Land 

Company. 

Atchafalaya NWR was established in 

1986, when 15,220 acres in the basin, as 

directed by Public Law 98–548, were 

purchased. Since 1989, the Corps has 

purchased 37,000 acres of fee title land 

adjacent to and within the Atchafalaya 

NWR, which brought the current 

acreage among all three agencies to 

64,000. The Corps is in the process of 

purchasing more land to add to the 

system. 

Under the Cooperative Agreement 

(Contract No. 14–16–0004–86–946), all 

of the public access lands are managed 

by the LDWF. Since the Federal and 

State lands share common boundaries, 

LDWF technical and field personnel 

manage the wildlife on both the wildlife 

management area and the refuge. 

Service personnel are responsible for all 

forest management and issuance of 

special use permits. 

Approximately 12 percent of the 

refuge is inundated open water, with 

isolated cypress trees and willow 

stands. Bottomland hardwood forest is 

the primary habitat. Self-guided tours 

can be accessed by auto, boat, or foot. 

Traditional use of the area is hunting, 

which follows the State’s annual season 

dates and specific regulations. Camping 

is allowed nearby on the State’s 

Sherburne Wildlife Management Area. 

Public Availability of Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, e-mail 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. 

Authority: This notice is published under 

the authority of the National Wildlife Refuge 

System Improvement Act of 1997, Public 

Law 105–57. 

Dated: December 5, 2008. 

Cynthia K. Dohner, 

Acting Regional Director. 

[FR Doc. E9–186 Filed 1–8–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Geological Survey 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Submitted for Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

Review; Comment Request 

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of a proposed new 

information collection and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: To comply with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), we are notifying the public that 

we have submitted to OMB a new 

information collection request (ICR) for 

approval of the paperwork requirements 

for the Study on Arsenic and Uranium 

in Bedrock Wells of East Central 

Massachusetts (MASSWELL). 

DATES: You must submit comments on 

or before February 9, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Please submit comments on 

this information collection directly to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Desk 

Officer for the Department of Interior via 

e-mail [OIRA_DOCKET@omb.eop.gov]; 

or fax (202)395–6566; and identify your 

submission as 1028–NEW. Please also 

submit a copy of your comments to 

Phadrea Ponds, USGS Information 

Collection Clearance Officer, 2150–C 

Center Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80525 

(mail); (970)226–9230 (fax); or 

pponds@usgs.gov (e-mail). Please 

reference Information Collection 1028– 

NEW, MASSWELL in the subject line. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE

CONTACT: John A. Colman, U.S. 

Geological Survey, 10 Bearfoot Road, 

Northborough, Massachusetts 01532 

(mail); at 508–490–5027 (telephone); or 

jacolman@usgs.gov (e-mail). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: 

Study on Arsenic and Uranium in 

Bedrock Wells of East Central 

Massachusetts. 

OMB Control Number: 1028–NEW. 

Abstract: The U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS) and the Massachusetts 

Department of Environmental Protection 

(MDEP) are conducting the study with 

assistance of staff from the 

Massachusetts Department of Public 

Health, Bureau of Environmental Health 

(MDPH/BEH) to assess: (1) The number 

of private wells containing raw-water 

concentrations of arsenic or uranium 

that are greater than the current 

drinking water standards and (2) the 

degree to which bedrock units can be 

associated with concentrations of 

uranium and arsenic. This information 

will help guide future water-supply 

development and well-water testing. It 

will tell local health officials where the 

areas of concern are in their 

communities, and provide background 

concentrations by rock type for use in 

identifying contamination from human 

sources. 

We will protect information from 

respondents considered proprietary 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 6 / Friday, January 9, 2009 / Notices 917 

under the Freedom of Information Act 

(5 U.S.C. 552) and implementing 

regulations (43 CFR Part 2), and under 

regulations at 30 CFR 250.197, ‘‘Data 

and information to be made available to 

the public or for limited inspection.’’ 

Responses are voluntary. No questions 

of a ‘‘sensitive’’ nature are asked. 

Affected Public: Individual and 

household residents. 

Respondent Obligation: Voluntary. 

Frequency of Collection: One-time 

collection. 

Estimated Number and Description of 

Respondents: 1000 private well owners 

in East Central Massachusetts. 

Estimated Number of Annual 

Responses: 800. 

Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 

Approximately 133 hours. 

Estimated Annual Reporting and 

Recordkeeping ‘‘Hour’’ Burden: In the 

August 27, 2008 FR Notice (73 FR 

50641) we estimated that the time to 

take the survey and collect the water 

sample would be 30 minutes. Based on 

peer-reviewer comments we have 

revised the estimated burden for this 

collection to be approximately 5 

minutes to take the survey and 5 

minutes to locate and collect the water 

needed for the sample. The total 

estimate is now 10 minutes per 

response. 

Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping ‘‘Non-Hour Cost’’ 

Burden: There are no ‘‘non-hour cost’’ 

burdens associated with this collection 

of information. 

Public Disclosure Statement: The PRA 

(44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) provides that an 

agency 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. Until OMB approves a 

collection of information, you are not 

obligated to respond. 

Comments: We are soliciting 

comments as to: (a) Whether the 

proposed collection of information is 

necessary for the agency to perform its 

duties, including whether the 

information is useful; (b) the accuracy of 

the agency’s estimate of the burden of 

the proposed collection of information; 

(c) how to enhance the quality, 

usefulness, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and (d) how 

to minimize the burden on the 

respondents, including the use of 

automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

USGS Information Collection 

Clearance Officer: Phadrea D. Ponds 

970–226–9445. 

Dated: December 3, 2008. 

Peter K. Weiskel, 

Associate Director, USGS MassachusettsRhode Island Water Science Center. 

[FR Doc. E9–180 Filed 1–8–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4311–AM–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Indian Affairs 

Notice of Renewal of Information 

Collection for Tribal Self-Governance, 

25 CFR Part 1000 

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed renewal of 

information collection. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Indian Affairs 

(BIA) is seeking comments from the 

public on a renewal of an information 

collection from Indian tribes 

participating in and Indian tribes 

seeking to participate in the Tribal SelfGovernance, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act. The 

information collected under OMB 

Clearance Number, 1076–0143, will be 

used to meet reporting requirements of 

the Tribal Self-Governance Act and 

implement requirements for entry into a 

pool of qualified applicants to be 

selected to begin participation in Tribal 

Self-Governance. The information 

collection requirements are periodically 

reviewed because the number of Indian 

tribes participating in Tribal SelfGovernance increases over time and the 

number of Indian tribes requesting to be 

selected to begin participation in Tribal 

Self-Governance may vary over time. 

This action is being taken to make sure 

that the requirements are not 

burdensome. 

DATE: Submit comments on or before 

March 10, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sharee 

M. Freeman, Director, Office of SelfGovernance, Department of the Interior, 

Mail Stop 355–G–SIB, 1951 Constitution 

Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20240. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You 

may request further information or 

obtain copies of the proposed 

information collection request from Dr. 

Kenneth D. Reinfeld, Office of SelfGovernance, Telephone 202–208–5734. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

collection is required by 25 U.S.C. 

458dd, which requires the Secretary of 

the Interior to submit a written report to 

Congress regarding the administration of 

Title IV, Tribal Self-Governance, under 

Public Law 93–638, as amended. The 

report is required to: (1) Identify the 

relative costs and benefits of SelfGovernance; (2) identify, with 

particularity, all funds that are 

specifically or functionally related to 

the provision by the Secretary of 

services and benefits to Self-Governance 

tribes and their members; (3) identify 

the funds transferred to each SelfGovernance tribe and the corresponding 

reduction in the Federal bureaucracy; 

(4) include the separate views of the 

tribes; and (5) include the funding 

formula for individual tribal shares of 

Central Office funds, together with the 

comments of affected Indian tribes. 

Respondents are asked to respond to the 

annual request for information in 90 

days. 

In addition, the collection is required 

for tribes who request to be placed in a 

pool of qualified applicants and selected 

to participate in Tribal Self-Governance 

under 25 U.S.C. 458bb. The Act 

authorizes the Director, Office of SelfGovernance to select up to 50 new tribes 

per year from an applicant pool to 

participate in Tribal Self-Governance. 

The qualified applicant pool consists of 

each tribe that: (1) Successfully 

completes a planning phase; (2) has 

requested participation in Tribal SelfGovernance by resolution or other 

official action by the tribal governing 

body; and (3) has demonstrated, for the 

previous three fiscal years, financial 

stability and financial management 

capability as evidenced by the tribe 

having no material audit exceptions in 

the required annual audit of the selfdetermination contracts of the tribe. 

Request for Comments: The Bureau of 

Indian Affairs requests your comments 

on this collection concerning: (a) The 

necessity of this information collection 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden (hours 

and cost) of the collection of 

information, including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(c) ways we could enhance the quality, 

utility and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and (d) ways we could 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

the information on the respondents, 

such as through the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. 

Please note that an agency may not 

sponsor or request, and an individual 

need not respond to, a collection of 

information unless it has a valid OMB 

Control Number. 

It is our policy to make all comments 

available to the public for review at the 

location listed in the ADDRESSES section, 

room 355–G, during the hours of 9 a.m.– 

5 p.m., EST Monday through Friday 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES