The Dalles Community Outreach Team made its semi-annual trip to Washington, D.C. to pitch issues of local interest to various government agencies.  Eight local governmental groups help support the trip.  Port of The Dalles Executive Director Andrea Klaas says a key topic was the need for a permanent plan to compensate counties who have large amounts of federal forest lands for the tax monies they don’t receive because of that designation.  Klaas says local governments desperately need the help.  The Secure Rural Schools Act that provided some funds to counties for schools and roads, but it has not been renewed for the upcoming fiscal year and had been substantially reduced in recent years, which means counties would revert to receiving a percentage of timber sales off federal land, a negligible amount in most cases due to harvest restrictions.