PORTLAND — Senator-elect Jeff Merkley says he plans to offer a bill to ensure federal timber revenue to cash-strapped Oregon counties when he takes office.

The Oregon Democrat says the first goal is a sustainable timber harvest, to preserve logging jobs and the environment.

To the extent that’s not possible, he says, the federal government must support counties that depend on federal payments.

“I think they’re part of a bargain struck with the federal government over federal timberlands, and a bargain that should be sustained,” Merkley said.

Oregon has gotten the largest share of the timber payment program that helps pay for schools, roads and public safety in 700 rural counties across 39 states.

In an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, Merkley said a compromise is needed on setting aside old growth forest while maintaining production levels high enough to keep sawmills in business.

One way to do it, he said, would be to increase thinning across millions of acres of second-growth forest to boost logging while reducing the risk of fire and the spread of plant disease or insect pests.

“It makes some areas more effective in terms of ecosystems and some areas more effective in terms of timber stands,” Merkley said.

On other topics, Merkley said he would probably support a bailout for the auto industry and changes in free trade policy, and he called for a clear strategy in the war in Afghanistan and for closing the Guantanamo Bay prison.

He also said he supports the efforts of American Indian tribes in Oregon to create jobs but was undecided about a controversial proposal for a new tribal casino in the Columbia River Gorge.

He said he has concerns about the possible impact of a casino, ranging from an increased dependence on gambling to traffic in the scenic area.

Merkley said the loss of the Big Three automakers in Detroit could tip the U.S. economy from a recession into a depression.

“We cannot let these industries fail,” he said.

But Merkley said the automakers need to come up with a successful long-term strategy to transform their companies to meet changing consumer demand and energy needs.

“It doesn’t help to just help them limp through 12 months and then collapse,” he said. “We need a plan that brings them into the modern world in a way that they’ve been reluctant to come.”

Merkley also said the U.S. economy has suffered from an imbalance in the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.

He said NAFTA has “vacuumed jobs” out of Oregon and had a “devastating impact” on the rural economy of Mexico. He said he supports a renegotiation of terms, as President-elect Barack Obama recommended during the presidential campaign.

Merkley called for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorism suspects because it has “become a symbol to the world of American torture and American failure to abide by the rule of law.”

He said the significance of the evidence should be determined so that prisoners can be released or trials can be held, either civilian or military, as determined by the president-elect.