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3 

 decisions; and 4) encouraging informal resolution of issues 

 through face -to- face meetings during the appeals period. 



Success of the revised project appeals process is indicated in 

 the following numbers. For fiscal year 1995, 694 appeals were 

 filed on the 2,347 projects that were subject to appeal under 36 

 CFR 215. All but 30 of these appeals were disposed of within the 

 statutory 45 day time limit. In more than 75 percent of the 

 appeals, informal resolution was attempted producing resolutions 

 in 60 cases, or approximately 9 percent of the total number of 

 appeals. Additionally, 62 appeals were withdrawn by the 

 appellant. Of the remaining 542 appeals for which final 

 decisions were issued, 25 projects were withdrawn. However, many 

 of these projects are being redesigned for further 

 consideration. 



We evaluate this data in the following way. The public is 

 clearly participating in the predecisional deliberations. This 

 is shown by the number of individuals who demonstrated interest 

 during the predecisional process and who subsequently had 

 standing to file appeals. Moreover, appeals are being handled in 

 a timely fashion- -more than 95 percent were resolved in the 

 statutory 45 day period. 



Beyond these numbers, we also looked at how the appeals process 

 was working for timber sales and if appeals were merely a step in 

 a process that inevitably led to litigation. With respect to the 



