The paper , written by graduate student Dan Donato and several colleagues , concerned the effects of logging in the aftermath of the 2002 Biscuit Fire , a massive wildfire which burned nearly a half million acres ( 2,000 km ² ) in southwestern Oregon . Some forestry scientists , and the Bush administration , proposed that salvage logging — removal of dead trees , many still usable as timber , after a fire — was necessary for fire safety and forest regeneration . Donato '' et al. '' 's research provided some evidence contradicting this view . They compared sections of the burn which were burned severely and then salvage-logged to sections which had only been burned . They found the unlogged portions had significantly more conifer seedlings than were found in the logged portions . The paper suggested that soil disturbance and materials left over from the logging process may have disturbed the growth of seedlings . The paper also reported elevated surface fuels in the logged sites , which they concluded elevated the risk of future fire
Biscuit Fire
Biscuit Fire
Biscuit Fire publication controversy