About Jeff Golden
Jeff came to Jackson County in 1972, settling on 20 acres near Sams Valley and later near the town of Butte Falls. Through the 1970s he built and remodeled homes, co-founded a small construction company, managed timber and guided whitewater river trips on the Rogue and other rivers. He was the founding president of the Oregon Guides Association.
Jeff earned a Masters Degree in Broadcast Communications from Stanford University in 1982, returning to Medford the following year to become Production and Operations Manager for PBS station KSYS-TV. There he created the Downstate Gazette, a monthly television series on controversial environmental issues. He moved with his family from Butte Falls to Ashland in 1984 and was elected Jackson County Commissioner in 1986.
1986-1990 was a rugged time for Jackson County. The Rogue Valley, with some of the country’s worst air quality, was ordered to reduce woodstove pollution. Jeff led a two-year effort to solve the problem, building on ideas from woodstove users, negotiating with state officials, and securing grant money from the federal government for lower-income households to buy cleaner woodstoves. He led innovations to deliver county services more efficiently, including a self-insurance program that has saved taxpayers hundreds of thousands of premium dollars. When old- growth logging came to an end, Jeff was at the forefront of efforts to rebuild the region’s economy, train workers in new skills and encourage the wood-products industry to adapt to changing times. His insistence on looking forward instead of back triggered an attempt by elements of the timber industry to recall him from office in 1989. After the recall effort was rejected by county citizens, Jeff became the first Oregonian ever nominated for the JFK Profile in Courage Award. Here's a summary of Jeff's accomplishments as County Commissioner.
Jeff went on to establish Golden Communications, providing mediation, team-building and planning services for a wide variety of agencies and companies. In 1993 he became Chief of Staff to the Oregon Senate President, and worked for several years on regional water policy for the City of Portland. He went on to host a daily talk show on Jefferson Public Radio for ten years while analyzing local issues in local and regional newspaper columns. His books include Forest Blood, a novel on the timber wars, and two explorations of what’s possible in politics and government: As If We Were Grownups and Unafraid: A Novel of the Possible.
Jeff has been involved with dozens of community projects over the years. He created the Abundance Swap that takes place in Ashland every holiday season, and has served on the Boards of the Job Council, the Rogue Valley Council of Governments. the Rogue Valley Family YMCA, CASA, Pacific Nonprofit Network, Mediation Works, and two Oregon State Commissions.
Jeff is most relaxed when he’s cycling Oregon’s back roads and rafting Northwest rivers, especially with his grown children Daniel and Sarah. After getting their bachelors degrees and experiencing the lean job market, both have committed to more education, Daniel in chemical engineering at Oregon State University and Sarah in USC's Annenberg graduate School of Journalism. They make their Dad proud.
