National Woodland Owner Survey Extension With Revisions, Comment Request

Content

ACTION:

Notice; request for comment.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Forest Service is seeking comments from all interested individuals
and organizations on the extension (with revisions) of a currently approved information collection, National Woodland Owner Survey.

DATES:

Comments must be received in writing on or before June 12, 2026 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that
date will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES:

Comments concerning this notice should be addressed to Brett Butler of the USDA Forest Service, 160 Holdsworth Way, Amherst,
MA 01003. Comments also may be submitted via facsimile to 608-231-9592 or by email to: brett.butler2@usda.gov.

Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available to the public through relevant websites and upon request.
For this reason, please do not include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal information
or proprietary information. If you send an email comment, your email address will be automatically captured and included as
part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the internet. Please note that responses to
this public comment request containing any routine notice about the confidentiality of the communication will be treated as
public comments that may be made available to the public notwithstanding the inclusion of the routine notice.

The public may inspect the draft supporting statement and/or comments received at 160 Holdsworth Way, Room 201, Amherst, MA
01003 during normal business hours. Visitors are encouraged to call ahead to 413-545-1387 to facilitate entry to the building.
The public may request an electronic copy of the draft supporting statement and/or any comments received be sent via return
email. Requests should be emailed to brett.butler2@usda.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Brett Butler, Northern Research Station, 413-545-1387. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability
may call 711 to reach the Telecommunications Relay Service then provide the phone number of the person named as a point of
contact for further information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: National Woodland Owner Survey.

OMB Number: 0596-0078.

Expiration Date of Approval: 05/31/2027.

Type of Request: Extension with Revision of a currently approved information collection.

Abstract: There are an estimated 704 million acres of forestland across the United States, excluding interior Alaska. Of this forestland,
over half is owned by millions of corporations, families, individuals, and other private groups with the remaining managed
by over a thousand different Federal, State, and local government agencies and Tribal organizations. Understanding the attitudes
and behaviors of the owners and managers of the forestland is critical for understanding the current and future state of the
Nation's forests. The Forest Service conducts the National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) to increase our understanding of:

• Who owns and manages the forestland of the United States,
• Why they own/manage it,
• How they have used it, and
• How they intend to use it. This information is used by policy analysts, foresters, educators, and researchers to facilitate the planning and implementation of forest policies and programs and to provide landowners, managers, and the general public a better understanding of the social context of forests.

The Forest Service's direction and authority to conduct the NWOS is from the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning
Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-378; 16 U.S.C. 1600, et seq., as amended), and the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978 (Pub. L. 93-378; 16 U.S.C. 1642, et seq., as amended). These acts assign responsibility for the inventory and assessment of forest and related renewable resources to
the Forest Service. Additionally, the importance of an ownership survey in this inventory and assessment process is highlighted
in the 2014 Farm Bill, the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998, and the recommendations of
the Second Blue Ribbon Panel on the Forest Inventory and Analysis program (FIA).

Previous iterations of the NWOS were conducted in 1978, 1993, 2002-2006, 2011-2013, 2017-2018, 2019-2023, and the current
2024-2028 cycle. Approval for the current iteration of the NWOS

  expires on May 31, 2027. In order to complete the current NWOS cycle, which ends in 2028, we are seeking approval of this
  renewal. If this renewal is approved, the NWOS will be permitted to complete the 2024-2028 cycle.

Information will be collected related to:

• The characteristics of the land holdings,
• Attitudes and perceptions of the owners and managers,
• Resource uses and management activities, and

• Where applicable, landowner demographics.
  Separate survey instruments were developed for different target populations, including family forest ownerships, corporate
  and other private forest ownerships, private forest ownerships on selected U.S. affiliated protectorates and territories,
  residential urban landowners, Tribal lands, and public lands. The proposed information collection includes survey questions
  and specialized science modules that address the high-priority administration subject areas of wildfire, timber, and recreation,
  including stand-alone science modules on wildfire and timber and multiple base survey questions related to each topic. For
  the families and individuals, the dominant ownership group of forestland owners, a subset of ownerships will be sent survey
  instruments addressing the following topics, in addition to the core questions from the base survey instrument:

• Afforestation

• Agroforestry

• Carbon

• Cross-boundary cooperation

• Decision making

• Energy

• Heirs' properties

• Invasive species

• Land transfer

• Landowner values

• Sense of place

• Timber

• Wellbeing

• Wildfire
  The NWOS provides widely cited benchmarks for the number, extent, and characteristics of owners of forestland in the United
  States. These results have been used to assess the sustainability of forest resources at national, regional, and state levels;
  to implement and assess forest-land owner assistance programs; and to answer a variety of questions with topics ranging from
  fragmentation to the economics of timber production. This is the only consistent, long-term effort to collect in-depth information
  about owners of forestland at the national scale. It provides longitudinal data to track ownership trends and allows for comparisons
  across regions of the country.

The respondents will be a statistically selected group of individuals, families, partnerships, corporations, nonprofit organizations
and other private groups, Tribal groups, and public landowners that own forestland in the United States. A well distributed,
random set of sampling points has been established across the country. At each point, remotely sensed data, such as aerial
photographs, will be used to identify forested points. For the forested points, public records will be used to identify the
owners of record (such as the names and addresses of the landowners who will be contacted). The target number of respondents
for the base NWOS implementation is 50 per state (or substate) per year, which, given a historic response rate of 29 percent,
means an estimated 2,650 ownership responses annually. Additionally, with science modules, state intensifications, urban,
islands, Tribal, corporate and public instruments, our estimated number of respondents and non-respondents (who incur some
burden from outreach materials), is 19,447 ownerships per year and 3,090 burden hours.

The NWOS will utilize a mixed-mode survey technique involving cognitive interviews, focus groups, self-administered survey,
and telephone interviews. Cognitive interviews will be used to test specific questions and explore new topics or populations
of interest. Focus groups will be used to provide more in-depth understanding of the responses and to explore new areas of
inquiry.

The implementation of the self-administered survey, which will represent the majority of the responses, will involve up to
four contacts. First, a pre-notice postcard will be sent to all potential respondents describing this information collection
and why the information is being collected. Second, a survey with a cover letter and pre-paid return envelope will be sent
to the potential respondents. The cover letter will reiterate the purpose of this information collection and provide the respondents
with all legally required information. Third, a reminder will be mailed to thank the respondents and encourage the non-respondents
to reply. Those who have yet to respond will be sent a new survey, cover letter, and pre-paid return envelope. Telephone interviews
will be used for follow-up with non-respondents. For all owners, the primary survey instrument will be paper forms with the
option for completing the survey electronically online. We will use Participatory Action Research (PAR) and cognitive interviews
to explore tribal land ownerships.

Forest Service researchers will coordinate all components of this information collection. Forest Service personnel with assistance
provided by cooperators at the Family Forest Research Center located at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will conduct
the mail portion of the survey, cognitive interviews, focus groups, and telephone follow-ups. Data will be compiled and edited
by Forest Service and Family Forest Research Center personnel. Forest Service researchers and cooperators will analyze the
collected data. National, regional, and state-level results will be publicly available and electronically distributed.

This information collection will generate scientifically based, statistically reliable, up-to-date information about the owners
of forestland in the United States. The results of these efforts will provide more reliable information on this important
and dynamic segment of the United States population, thus facilitating more complete assessments of the country's forestland
resources and improved planning and implementation of forestry programs on state, regional, and national levels.

Affected Public: Individuals and households and the Private Sector (Businesses and Non-Profit Organizations, and State, Local, or Tribal Government).

Estimate of Burden per Response: 25 minutes for families, individuals, and corporate ownerships; 60-120 minutes for Tribal entities, and 15 minutes for public
entities. 1-3 minutes for pre-notice letters, cover letters, and thank you letters.

Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 19,447.

Estimated Annual Number of Responses per Respondent: 1.

Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 3,090 hours.

Comment is Invited: Comment is invited on: (1) whether this collection of information is necessary for the stated purposes and the proper performance
of the functions of the Agency, including whether the information will have practical or scientific utility; (2) the accuracy
of the Agency's estimate of the burden of the collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions
used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the

  burden of the collection of information on respondents, including the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological
  collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

All comments received in response to this notice, including names and addresses when provided, will be a matter of public
record. Comments will be summarized and included in the submission request for Office of Management and Budget approval.

Valerie Hipkins, Acting Deputy Chief, Research and Development. [FR Doc. 2026-07102 Filed 4-10-26; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3411-15-P

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