Lincoln Park, NJ Restoration Site Visitor Survey Request Submission

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number 0690-0030)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Lincoln Park Restoration Site Visitor Survey

PURPOSE: Evaluation of Visit and Description of Visitors: Lincoln Park is located in Jersey City, New Jersey and is a city park that has ballfields, basketball courts, a dog walk, and other amenities. The portion of the park where the survey will be conducted is a restored wetland area that now includes walking paths and interpretive signage describing the natural resources of the area. Prior to the restoration, the area was overgrown with phragmites (a prolific reed), did not have tidal flow, and did not offer opportunities for visitors to explore the site. The purpose of the survey is to collect information on the types of visitors coming to the restoration site and to learn about their impressions of the restoration activities that have occurred at the site. This information will be used to better understand the public's experience at coastal restoration sites providing recreational access and to evaluate the populations making use of the newly restored portion of Lincoln Park. This information will help us in articulating the benefits of restoration projects to applicable NOAA offices (rather than simply describing acres restored) and we will also provide the information to the restoration center so it is aware of the public's perceptions of different elements of the project. Ideally, this is the type of basic survey that can be used at other restoration sites in the future.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Restoration Site Visitors

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [X] Other: Visitor Survey

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Anthony Dvarskas

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the

Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals	360	5 minutes	30 hours
Totals	360	5 minutes	30 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $10,000.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe?

[ ] Yes [X] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you
plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

The target population for the survey effort is the set of adults who visit the recently restored area of Lincoln Park in Jersey City, New Jersey during the Spring and Summer seasons. The sampling frame is the set of adults who visit the restored area during daylight hours on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays during a 4-month period in 2012 following approval of the information collection. Only English-speaking adults who appear to be age 18 or over will be sampled.

Interviews will be conducted during a 4-day period each month (i.e., a total of 16 survey days). Each 4-day period will include two weekdays (Thursday and Friday) and two weekend days (Saturday and Sunday), and it will occur as close as possible to the middle of each month. We select a contiguous set of days for surveying rather than drawing a random sample of days in order to minimize costs associated with mobilization and demobilization.

The restored area has a single primary entrance, and adult visitors will be intercepted as they leave the park through that entrance. As visitation rates are expected to be relatively low, interviewers will attempt to intercept all visitors leaving the park during daylight hours. When groups of visitors leave the park together, the interviewer will target the adult in the group who celebrated the most recent birthday.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[X] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [X] Yes [ ] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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