The university said Tuesday that 66 percent of faculty, staff and students backed Salwasser in a vote of confidence.

‘‘The dean’s really trying to make the college a better place and a place where scientific inquiry can thrive,’’ said Norman Johnson, a forestry professor who was chairman of a committee Salwasser named to look into his conduct.

Salwasser and some senior faculty tried to delay publication last winter of a study by graduate student Dan Donato and others in the prestigious journal Science.

The scientists involved in the Donato study included Oregon State faculty and U.S. Forest Service staff. They concluded that logging after the 2002 Biscuit fire in southwestern Oregon had killed most of the plentiful seedlings that sprouted naturally and left more fuel on the ground for future wildfires.

The findings went against the timber industry’s support for aggressively logging forests burned by wildfire to generate the money to plant new trees and control brush, as well as Salwasser’s public endorsement of a bill in Congress to speed up salvage logging after wildfires.

The committee appointed to review the incident found that under Salwasser, the college often did not consider the wide range of perspectives on forestry issues and relied too much on advice from the timber industry. It recommended that he consult a range of opinions within the college on issues before throwing his and the college’s support behind legislation.

The burned forests, particularly the site of the Biscuit fire, have been a political and scientific battleground.