Justification - Planned BioBlitz Event at Mallows Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Project Title: Planned BioBlitz event at Mallows Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Program Office Sponsoring or Conducting this CSC Project: NOAA/NOS//ONMS

Authority for this CSC Project: CCSA

Purpose of this CSC Project: NOAA/NOS/ONOS/NMS manages the National Marine Sanctuary System, which protects America's most iconic natural and cultural marine resources. This mission is supported by research and monitoring programs, education and outreach, and community engagement efforts at each of the sanctuaries. This collection of data will support the research, monitoring, education, outreach, and community engagement efforts at Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary.

Type(s) of Information Collected and From Whom It Is Collected: This project collects information about the species that are present at Mallows Bay from volunteer individuals through iNaturalist. The data that are collected will include photos of an organism and the GPS coordinates of the photo, which will be uploaded to iNaturalist as an "observation."

Use of the Information: The iNaturalist observations collected during the organized BioBlitz will be used by the NOAA staff at Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary to better understand the species abundance and distribution at the site. The information may be used to inform research projects and may be incorporated into education and interpretation materials.

Method(s) of Information Collection: Electronically

Affected Public: Individuals

Estimated Average Annual Number of Participants: 100

Estimated Average Annual Number of Responses per Participant: 5

Estimated Average Minutes per Response: 5

Estimated Average Annual Burden Hours: 42

Estimated Total Annual Cost to Participants in this CSC Project: $0

Estimated Average Annual Costs to the Federal Government: $38,846

Estimated Average Annual Number of Federal Government Employees (FTEs): 0.25

Recruitment and Retention Methods for Voluntary Participants (SSA item 1): Public participation in the BioBlitzes will be promoted through social media, newsletters, the Mallows Bay Sanctuary Advisory Council (SAC), and sanctuary partner organizations who have already committed their involvement in supporting the events.

Gifts or Payments (SSA Item 9): We will provide incentives for participation (ex: free t-shirt). These costs will be covered by a grant.

Annual and Multi-Year Schedules (SSA Item 16):

Project timeline: January – December 2023

First BioBlitz event: Late April/early May. Information will be collected over a 4-5 hour time period.

Second BioBlitz event: Late September/early October. Information will be collected over a 4-5 hour time period.

Analysis of information collected will occur between October-December, and will continue to the following year if needed.

Display OMB Control No. and Expiration Date (SSA Item 17): This information will be provided when individuals sign up to participate in this CSC project.

Statistical Methods: This CSC project will not employ statistical methods.

Approval for Pretesting: This PSC project will not require additional pretesting with more than nine members of the public.

Supplemental Documents: The supplemental document for this CSC project provides screenshots of the data submission app.

CERTIFICATION: I certify the following are 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 collection will not include highly influential scientific information, ,which is information NOAA or OMB determines: (i) could have a potential impact of more than $500 million in any year, or (ii) is novel, controversial, or precedent setting or has significant interagency interest.

5. The collection complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

6. The collection will provide qualitative and quantitative data that help inform scientific research and monitoring, validate models or tools, support STEM learning, and enhance the quantity and quality of data collected to support NOAA’s mission.

Name: Megan Ossmann