Comments on “Post-Wildfire Logging Hinders Regeneration and Increases Fire Risk”. Science vol 313: 615b

Analysis of the study methodology and raw data suggest that this estimate is statistically flawed and misleading and says nothing about the impacts of more prompt postfire harvest. D onato et al. (1) reported results from small sections of forest studied 2 years after the 200,000-ha 2002 Biscuit Fire in central Oregon. They cited data collected over a 1-year interval comparing conifer seedling sur-vival and woody debris remaining before and after logging and in control sites that were left unharvested. Based on this limited spatial and temporal snapshot, the authors offered a quanti-tative estimate of the effects of salvage logging that is potentially misleading and statistically unsound. Their conclusions also fail to conside