 * “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
—Helen Keller
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To contact me, please click here: Sen.JeffGolden@oregonlegislature.gov
 The Wild Rogue Wilderness, photo from the Bureau of Land Management
Midsummer greetings to all--
We’re doing our best to enjoy these long summer days between legislative sessions. If you’re like me, that’s harder when our valley fills up with moderate-to-serious smoke, pulled in from blazes hundreds of miles away. But with the exception of the Salt Creek fire east of Eagle Point last month, we in Jackson County have been mostly spared from the flames so far.
That’s not the case for our Oregon friends to the north and especially the east. Their summer has been pure hell. In July the Durkee fire, burning some 300,000 acres of range and grassland in and around Baker County, was the nation’s largest (that distinction then moved to the Park Fire in California, not far from where the town of Paradise burned to the ground in 2018). As I write these words in mid-August, with something like two months of peak wildfire danger yet to go, more Oregon acreage has burned in 2024 than in any year on record.
Current fires in Oregon
As I write these works, thousands of men and women are out there working in excruciating heat to control and extinguish these fires. I'm thinking about them daily, as well as those who’ve lost their homes, and those who well could in the dangerous weeks ahead. That keeps me laser-focused on pursuing more ways to protect our communities, both in the coming year and going forward, from what has become the most savage ongoing threat to our ability to thrive.
I want you to have a good opportunity to learn about the details of all that, as well as some other big issues that are shaping up for the 2025 session. We’re planning monthly Town Hall meetings until the next session begins. We’ll try for a consistent schedule—9:00am on the last Saturday of each month—though events that come up suddenly could alter that. Our current plan is to alternate between virtual and in-person meetings; we’ll be on Zoom on the last Saturday of August, October and (holidays permitting) December, and in-person at venues TBD in September and November.
So we’ll meet on Zoom at 9am on Saturday, August 31. Email us at sen.jeffgolden@oregonlegislature.com for the link. We’ll use this newsletter to confirm dates, format and locations in the days just before future meetings.
I hope you’ll participate in some of these. Hearing your thoughts on tough issues ahead is a big pay-off for me. In the meantime, thanks for doing what you can do to prevent fire ignition this summer—it’s one reason we haven’t experienced disaster this hot, dry year—and please keep it up.
Best,
 Senator Jeff Golden, Oregon Senate District 3
Emergency alerts and assistance:
- Information about local cooling centers.
- Sign up for OR-alert and get lifesaving alerts and instructions during emergencies to help you and others stay safe.
Housing and food:
If you are in need of housing assistance, ACCESS has resources here. ACCESS also has a food pantry locator and food program information here.
Unemployment Insurance:
If you have filed an Unemployment Insurance claim and are in need of assistance, the Employment Department can be reached at:
frances.oregon.gov/claimant or by calling 877-345-3484. If you continue to have questions or concerns about your claim, please reach out to our office for assistance at sen.jeffgolden@oregonlegislature.gov
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