Two controversial timber sales in Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley were postponed for a third time by the federal Bureau of Land Management on Monday. The proposed Late Mungers and Penn Butte timber sales would open up over 800 acres of forest in the Applegate Valley to commercial logging. The auctions were scheduled to take place Jan. 25, but were abruptly rescheduled for April 25. These sales, that include old-growth forest, have been fought since at least 2022 by environmental groups that argue commercial logging will increase wildfire risk and that the plan has gone ahead without proper environmental review. …According to the BLM, the project will reduce forest density which will help slow the spread of wildfires. Sullivan said the agency has been getting more requests from logging companies to delay timber sales until closer to when logging would begin in May.