Comment on "Post-wildfire logging hinders regeneration and increases fire risk".

Based on limited sampling 2 years after the 2002 Biscuit Fire in Oregon, Donato et al. (Brevia, 20 January 2006, p. 352) concluded that postfire logging reduced seedling regeneration by 71%. 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.

A new technique for handling sexually abusive calls to telephone crisis lines.

Sexually abusive calls interfere with the legitimate functions of crisis lines and have detrimental effects on crisis line workers. This paper describes a new approach to responding to such calls in a way that meets the needs of the crisis line and encourages callers to seek therapeutic treatment for their problem. The proposed response is based on principles of covert conditioning and Ericksonian suggestions. A script of the response is presented along with a description of the rationale and suggested precautions for use with callers.

Tolerance for environmental health risks: the influence of knowledge, benefits, voluntariness, and environmental attitudes.

This study examined factors affecting risk estimates and tolerance among persons directly exposed to environmental health risks. Data were gathered from questionnaires distributed at public hearings regarding proposed air pollution standards for an arsenic emitting copper smelter located in Tacoma, Washington. Approximately 80% of the area residents who attended the hearings completed the questionnaires, and the responses of 347 subjects were analyzed. Results indicated that informal risk estimates and risk tolerance were closely associated with judged benefits of the hazard source, acceptance or denial of vulnerability, judgments of exposure voluntariness, and environmental attitudes. Neither factual knowledge of formal risk estimates and proposed standards nor residential distance from the smelter was found to be closely related to risk tolerance or informal risk estimates. Implications of the results are discussed in relation to past and future studies of reactions to risk, and in relation to risk management policy and practice.