ACAD Programmatic Form

NPS Form 10-201 (Rev. 09/2019) OMB Control No.

National Park Service Expiration Date

PROGRAMMATIC REVIEW AND CLEARANCE PROCESS

FOR NPS-SPONSORED PUBLIC SURVEYS

The scope of the Programmatic Review and Clearance Process for NPS-Sponsored Public Surveys is limited and will only include individual surveys of park visitors, potential park visitors, and residents of communities near parks. Use of the programmatic review will be limited to non-controversial surveys of park visitors, potential park visitors, and/or residents of communities near parks that are not likely to include topics of significant interest in the review process. Additionally, this process is limited to non-controversial information collections that do not attract attention to significant, sensitive, or political issues. Examples of significant, sensitive, or political issues include: seeking opinions regarding political figures; obtaining citizen feedback related to high-visibility or high-impact issues like the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park, the delisting of specific Endangered Species, or drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

SUBMISSION DATE: 12-1-23

PROJECT TITLE: Visitor Perception of Experimental Lighting Conditions at Cadillac Mountain Entrance in Acadia National Park (ACAD)

ABSTRACT: (not to exceed 150 words)

Anthropogenic light sources threaten night sky visibility in national parks, which protect some of the only remaining pristine night skies in the United States. Upgraded lighting systems implemented by the National Park Service can help to protect dark skies. The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of park lighting on visitor experiences in Acadia National Park at the Cadillac Mountain reservation entrance. Cadillac Mountain is one of the most popular locations for visitors to experience sunrise, and therefore visitors flock to this area in the darkness of the early morning, where they await sunrise. The lights at the entrance are some of the only intrusive lights remaining in the park, and through understanding visitor responses to experimental lighting conditions park management can make informed lighting infrastructure decisions. Results will also inform park management regarding the possibility of becoming an International Dark Sky Park through the International Dark-Sky Association.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION:
NAME:	Dr. Peter Newman
TITLE	Department Head/ Professor
AFFILIATION:	Pennsylvania State University
ADDRESS:	801 Donald H. Ford Building. University Park, PA. 16802
EMAIL:	pbn3@psu.edu	PHONE:	814-863-7849

PARK OR PROGRAM LIAISON CONTACT INFORMATION:
NAME:	Adam Gibson
TITLE	Social Scientist
AFFILIATION:	Acadia National Park
ADDRESS:
EMAIL:	adam_w_gibson@nps.gov	PHONE:	970-310-1518

PROJECT INFORMATION:

Where will the collection take place? Acadia National Park (ACAD)
Sampling Period Start Date: 06/01/2024		Sampling Period End Date: 8/31/2023
Type of Information Collection Instrument: (Check ALL that Apply)
X Mail-Back Questionnaire  Face-to-Face Interview	On-Site Questionnaire  Focus Groups		 Telephone Survey Other (List)
Will an electronic device be used to collect information? Other- Emailed survey will be sent to willing participants after their visit to ACAD.		 No X Yes- Personal devices of visitors

SURVEY JUSTIFICATION:

Social science research in support of park planning and management is mandated in the NPS Management Policies 2006 (Section 8.11.1, “Social Science Studies”). The NPS pursues a policy that facilitates social science studies in support of the NPS mission to protect resources and enhance the enjoyment of present and future generations (National Park Service Act of 1916, 38 Stat 535, 16 USC 1, et seq.). NPS policy mandates that social science research will be used to provide an understanding of park visitors, the non-visiting public, gateway communities and regions, and human interactions with park resources. Such studies are needed to provide a scientific basis for park planning and development.

Anthropogenic sources of light have increased with urban and exurban population development. These impacts, expressed as “light pollution,” have detrimental effects on wildlife, human health, and stellar visibility. Natural dark skies are increasingly recognized as an important biological, cultural, and experiential resource in national parks. Light pollution threatens night sky visibility in national parks, which protect some of the only remaining pristine night skies in the United States. The Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division (NSNSD) requested this study because research is needed to inform a better understanding of how visitors respond to different lighting conditions in park settings. This information is needed to inform strategies for managing current and future lighting infrastructure.

Increasingly, park artificial lighting modifications are being considered to protect natural darkness and reduce impacts to wildlife while still achieving the desired outcomes for visitors (e.g., safety, navigation, recreation, etc.). Upgrades to the lighting systems used by the National Park Service can help meet the NSNSD’s mission to protect dark skies as a social and ecological resource (National Park Service, 2016). However, there is a gap in the scientific knowledge on how artificial lighting conditions in natural protected areas impact visitors’ experiences, which this study would address.

This study will inform NPS and the NSNSD regarding lighting infrastructure, based on visitor preferences for various lighting conditions in the Cadillac Mountain area of ACAD. The extremely popular Cadillac Mountain area of the park requires reservations for visitors to experience the sunrise, and visitors typically arrive very early in the morning (in the dark) for this coveted visitor opportunity. The only existing light in the area is at the Cadillac Mountain Entrance Station. The current lights are white (predominant color currently used in most park settings), which creates the most ecological impact. In addition to testing the current white lighting, this study will evaluate three other lighting conditions (including amber/red) that are less intense and less impactful to wildlife. However, it is unknown how visitors will react to the various lighting conditions, or how the lights my influence their visitor experience, which will be determined through this study. Finally, this study will provide insights regarding how onsite visitor experiences with park infrastructure may influence visitor behaviors off-site (i.e., known as spillover behaviors) (Nilsson et al., 2017). Ultimately the results from this study will inform lighting infrastructure at the Cadillac Mountain Entrance Station, and other ACAD facility lighting. Beyond the park, this important research will produce results that can begin to inform lighting infrastructure and design standards for NSNSD, and thus other park units.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

1. Respondent Universe:

The respondent universe for this collection will be adult recreation users (age 18 or older) that have a reservation to enter the Cadillac Mountain Entrance Station via personal vehicle between 3:30 am and 7 am between July 1 – October 20, 2024.

2. Sampling Plan / Procedures:

This study will use a Qualtrics-based emailed survey facilitated through Penn State University. Potential participants will be recruited to provide their email address if they are willing to participate in a post-experience survey, as they enter ACAD’s Cadillac Mountain Entrance Station during the study period of July 1 – October 20, 2024. During this period of time, reservations (through Recreation.gov) are required for entry into the Cadillac Mountain area of the park, which is popular for sunrise viewing. Sampling will focus on visitors that have reservations and enter the park for sunrise viewing, between 3:30 am and 7 am between July 1 – October 20, 2024. As visitors provide their reservation details to the Cadillac Mountain Entrance Station staff, the NPS employee will ask potential respondents if they would be willing to participate in an online survey following their visit. If they are willing, the NPS employee will enter the participant’s email address into a database via tablet computer.

Each day during the sampling period, 150 sunrise reservations are allotted and according to park staff approximately 100 vehicles actually attend (due to weather attrition, etc.). All vehicles entering Cadillac Mountain Entrance Station between 3:30 am and 7 am between July 1 – October 20, 2024 will be asked if they are willing to participate in the post-experience emailed survey. We will sample 5 days per week during this period, and only one adult per vehicle will be asked to participate. Therefore, over the span of 16 weeks we anticipate reaching approximately 8,000 vehicles with the opportunity to provide their email address and complete the survey post-experience (500 per week).

During the sampling period, four different lighting conditions will be tested (i.e., current white lighting, and three other lighting conditions varying in amber/red colors, and intensities designed by the NSNSD, which are less impactful to wildlife). Potential respondents will only experience one condition (the condition present when they enter the Cadillac Mountain Entrance Station). Each condition will be in place for approximately four weeks over the span of sixteen weeks (July 1 – October 20, 2024). The lighting condition will rotate by week to aid with randomization while also making the deployment of different lighting infrastructure more feasible for park and research staff. Table 1 contains an example of the lighting condition design across the sampling period.

Table 1: Estimated Number of Contacts During Sample Period

Lighting Condition	Sample Dates	# of Visitor Contacts
Condition 1	Week 1 (7/1/2024-7/7/2024)	500
Condition 2	Week 2 (7/8/2024-7/14/2024)	500
Condition 3	Week 3 (7/15/2021-7/21/2024)	500
Condition 4	Week 4 (7/22/2024-7/28/2024)	500
Condition 1	Week 5 (7/29/2024-8/4/2024)	500
Condition 2	Week 6 (8/5/2024-8/11/2024)	500
Condition 3	Week 7 (8/12/2024-8/18/2024)	500
Condition 4	Week 8 (8/19/2024-8/25/2024)	500
Condition 1	Week 9 (8/26/2024-9/1/2024)	500
Condition 2	Week 10 (9/2/2024-9/8/2024)	500
Condition 3	Week 11 (9/9/2024-9/15/2024)	500
Condition 4	Week 12 (9/16/2024-9/22/2024)	500
Condition 1	Week 13 (9/23/2024-9/29/2024)	500
Condition 2	Week 14 (9/30/2024-10/6/2024)	500
Condition 3	Week 15 (10/7/2024-10/13/2024)	500
Condition 4	Week 16 (10/14/2024-10/20/2024)	500
TOTAL		8,000

3. Instrument Administration:

As visitors provide their reservation details to the Cadillac Mountain Entrance Station staff, an ACAD employee will explain the focus of the study (see script below) and ask one adult per vehicle (based on next birthday) if they are willing to participate in a post-experience survey that would be emailed to the participant after their visit. Willing participants will provide their email address via a tablet computer database that will be administered by the ACAD employee. Visitors who refuse to participate will be asked several non-response questions (see below).

“Hello, we are conducting a post-experience study about the lights you are experiencing here at the Entrance Station, and how they may influence your visitor experience here at Cadillac Mountain. Your participation is voluntary and your responses will be anonymous. In total, this study will take you about 10 minutes to complete, and if you are willing, we will email you the survey next week. Would you be willing to participate?” If so, please provide your email address (entered into tablet computer).

• If NO: “Do you mind if I ask you just a couple of questions?

  • Over the past 12 months, how many visits have you made to Acadia National Park?

  • As you entered the Cadillac Mountain, what light color would you prefer to experience at the Entrance Station? White, Amber, Red, No Light Present or Do Not Know?

  • How many people were in your personal group today, including you?

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope you enjoy your visit.” 


• If YES: “Thank you for your willingness to assist with this study. Who in your group (who is at least 18 years old) has the next birthday? Would you be willing to participate in the study and provide your email address? 


Using the same tablet computer database, the NPS employee will also capture additional observational information to aid with calculating potential non-response bias:

• time of contact, 



• number of adults and children in group, and 


• potential language barrier 


Following Dillman et al., 2017, we will email willing participants one week after they agreed to provide their email address with an initial invitation to participate in the study. A reminder email will be sent 7 days later, and the survey will close 3 days after the reminder message. In total, the survey will be available to potential respondents for 10 days. The survey will be anonymous, voluntary, and will only allow for one submission per IP address. We believe that using this email-based survey approach will be the most effective, yet least impactful/burdening approach that can be applied given the nature of this study (e.g., early morning hours at dark).

4. Expected Response Rate / Confidence Level:

We will collect both onsite response rate (willingness to give email address to later participate), as well as total survey response rate (i.e., response rate for completing online emailed survey). Given the total population (N=8,000) during the sampling period, we estimate that 70% (n=5,600) will be willing to provide their email address. We anticipate that of the 2,400 who refuse to provide their email address, 60% (n=1,440) will be willing to answer the non-response questions.

The anticipated survey response rate is based on a recent previous study in ACAD that used email addresses to facilitate a post-experience survey (see Horne et al., 2021). Based on these previous data from ACAD, we anticipate a 35% survey response rate, yielding 1,960 completed surveys (approximately 490 per condition). Given the anticipated response rate and expected sample size, we anticipate that will be able to accurately represent the opinions of Cadillac Mountain visitors that seek sunrise experiences (and engage with park lighting infrastructure). There will be 95 percent confidence that the survey findings will be accurate to within 5 percentage points. The sample will suffice for bivariate comparisons and more sophisticated multivariate analysis. For dichotomous response variables, estimates will be accurate within the margins of error and confidence intervals will be somewhat larger for questions with more than two response categories.

Table 2. Anticipated Response Rates

Location	Initial Contacts	Visitors Providing Email Address (70%)	Respondents (35%)	Non-respondents (Soft refusals) (30%)	Non-response survey (60%)	Hard Refusals (40%)
ACAD Cadillac Mountain Entrance Station	8,000	5,600	1,960	2,400	1,440	960

5. Strategies for dealing with potential non-response bias:

All soft refusals will be asked to provide responses to the following questions, which, along with the observational data outlined above, will serve as the non-response bias check:

• If NO: “Do you mind if I ask you just a couple of questions?

  • Over the past 12 months, how many visits have you made to Acadia National Park?

  • As you entered the Cadillac Mountain, what light color would you prefer to experience at the Entrance Station? White, Amber, Red, No Light Present or Do Not Know?

  • How many people were in your personal group today, including you?

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope you enjoy your visit.”

Using the same tablet computer database, the NPS employee will also capture additional observational information to aid with calculating potential non-response bias:

• time of contact, 



• number of adults and children in group, and 


• potential language barrier 


The data from these questions and the observational data collected during the intercept (outlined above) will be used to determine any non-response bias. Any implications of non-response bias will be outlined in the final report and discussed with NPS managers and staff.

6. Description of any pre-testing and peer review of the methods and/or instrument:

The questionnaire format and variations of the majority of the questions have been used in two NPS survey instruments previously approved by OMB (e.g., Grand Teton and Acadia National Parks). The majority of questions are from the approved NPS Pool of Known Questions. The survey was pre-tested by five NPS staff and four researchers at Penn State University associated with the research to estimate respondent burden and clarity of questions.

BURDEN ESTIMATES:

The total estimated burden for this collection is 484 hours. We plan to intercept 8,000 vehicles that enter the entrance station during the study period. The initial contact will take one minute, resulting in a burden of 133 hours. We anticipate that 70% (n=5,600) of those contacted will provide their email address to participate in the survey. Of those, we anticipate that 35% (n=1,960) will complete the 10-minute post-experience, electronic survey, resulting in a burden of 327 hours.

Of the visitors who refuse to provide their email address (n=2,400), we expect 60% (n=1,440) will agree to answer the non-response questions. This non-response check will take one minute, resulting in a burden of 24 hours.

Table 3. Burden Estimates

	Completed Responses	Completion Time (minutes)	Burden Hours
Initial Contact	8,000	1	133
Electronic Survey	1,960	10	327
Non-response survey	1,440	1	24
Total	11,400		484

REPORTING PLAN:

The study results for ACAD will be presented in internal agency reports for NPS managers at the NSNSD. Summary statistics will be provided, as well as comparative responses based on Entrance Station lighting conditions. Additional comparative statistics may be used to examine potential differences by demographics or attitude typologies. The report will be reviewed by ACAD and NSNSD staff, and subsequently revised by the PI and team until the final report is processed and made public through the NPS. The report will be archived with the NPS Social Science Program for inclusion in the NPS Social Science Studies Collection as required by the NPS Programmatic Approval process. Hard copies will be available upon request.

REFERENCES:

Dillman, D. A., Hao, F., & Millar, M. M. (2017). Improving the effectiveness of online data collection by mixing survey modes. The SAGE handbook of online research methods, 220-238.

Horne, L., De Urioste-Stone, S., Seekamp, E., Rahimzadeh-Bajgiran, P., & Rickard, L. (2021). Determinants of visitor climate change risk perceptions in Acadia National Park, Maine, USA. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 35, 100401.

Nilsson, A., Bergquist, M., Shultz, W.P. (2017). Spillover effects in environmental behaviors, across time and context: A review and research agenda. Environmental Education Research, 23, 573-589.

NOTICES

Privacy Act Statement

General: This information is provided pursuant to Public Law 93-579 (Privacy Act of 1974), December 21, 1984, for individuals completing this form.

Authority: National Park Service Research mandate (54 USC 100702)

Purpose and Uses: This information will be used by The NPS Information Collections Coordinator to ensure appropriate documentation of information collections conducted in areas managed by or that are sponsored by the National Park Service.

Effects of Nondisclosure: Providing information is mandatory to submit Information Collection Requests to Programmatic Review Process.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

We are collecting this information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501) and is authorized by the National Park Service Research mandate (54 USC 100702). This information will be used by The NPS Information Collections Coordinator to ensure appropriate documentation of information collections conducted in areas managed by or that are sponsored by the National Park Service. All parts of the form must be completed in order for your request to be considered. We may not conduct or sponsor and you are not required to respond to, this or any other Federal agency-sponsored information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. OMB has reviewed and approved The National Park Service Programmatic Review Process and assigned OMB Control Number 1024-0224.

Estimated Burden Statement

Public Reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 12 minutes per collection, including the time it takes for reviewing instructions, gathering information and completing and reviewing the form. This time does not include the editorial time required to finalize the submission. Comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form should be sent to the Information Collection Clearance Coordinator, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Dr., Fort Collins, CO 80525.

RECORDS RETENTION - PERMANENT. Transfer all permanent records to NARA 15 years after closure. (NPS Records Schedule, Resource Page 1 of 4

Management And Lands (Item 1.A.2) (N1-79-08-1)).