George Sexton said he’s attended a couple dozen timber auctions during his 23 years as conservation director at KS Wild , an Ashland-based environmental group.

But when he showed up at the Bureau of Land Management office in Medford on Sept. 23 for a timber auction, he, a lawyer and a reporter for Jefferson Public Radio were not allowed to enter .

Sexton said that for years, he’s attended the auctions to observe and make sure BLM follows its laws and that bidders know about potential lawsuits. In this case, KS Wild is planning litigation to stop the “ Take A Chance ” timber sale, one of the four that was being offered.

Sexton said the public has only been blocked from the meetings recently, coinciding with the Trump administration’s focus on increasing logging .

“In the past, y

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