By Bryan Navarro

GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- Oregon counties face deficits and possible major cutbacks in schools and for law enforcement. It's because millions of dollars in compensation for land protected from logging has gone away.

On Thursday, Democrats and Republicans met with a handful of commissioners, from Curry to Klamath counties and everywhere in between, but say they are not yet prepared to unveil a specific plan. They there are two fronts that lawmakers are working on. First is a short-term fix in the Senate; that would be a temporary extension of the just finished payments, but at lower level.

The second track is in the house and would be a long-term plan. Republican Greg Walden and Democrats Peter Defazio and Kurt Schrader are collaborating, but have not yet reached an agreement about how to manage the forests, balancing protecting lands and opening up for logging while also bringing in revenue.

Once that happens, they still have to convince their colleagues. Once that agreement is reached and steps are taken in Washington, D.C., it could be hard to move forward. The Senate version, which is a temporary extension of the timber payments at a lower level, has faced opposition and it could be the same in the House.