The Board of Thurston County Commissioners celebrated Agriculture Day, International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists and World Frog Day during their business meeting on Tuesday.
“We really do have an incredible proclamation for you today. (We) combined three really important and connected items for one wonderful proclamation,” Thurston County Management Analyst Ellen Massey told the commissioners during the board’s Tuesday, March 17, meeting.
The proclamation recognized March 20 as World Frog Day, March 24 as Agriculture Day and 2026 as International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in Thurston County.
The recognition “provides an opportunity to celebrate local producers, the region’s prairie grasslands, promote agricultural education, and reaffirm the County’s commitment to sustainable agriculture, farmland preservation, and rural livelihoods,” the proclamation reads.
“I don’t think many communities could do a better job of connecting World Frog Day, International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists and National Ag Day,” said Stephen Bramwell of the WSU Extension.
Agriculture Day was first established in 1973 to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by American agriculture, and help Americans better understand the value of agriculture in their daily lives.
While that day of observance has over 50 years of precedence, the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists was just declared by the United Nations this year to raise global awareness, encourage responsible investments and shape policies that safeguard rangelands and pastoralist livelihoods.
In prairie-rich Thurston County, agriculture and pastoralist lifestyles go hand-in-hand.
“Today, less than 3% of our native prairies remain but the prairies that still exist here fulfill many roles in our community,” said Jennifer Colvin, a fifth-generation rancher at Colvin Ranch in Tenino.
“Thurston County's prairies preserve the rural character and sense of place unique to our region,” Colvin said. “They connect the people to our shared heritage, to our community and to nature. Native prairies provide the wildlife habitat for threatened and endangered species and act as working agricultural lands that contribute to a strong local system, provide rural jobs and support families.”
Among the endangered species that call Tenino’s native prairies home is the Oregon Spotted Frog, a medium-sized frog native to Western Washington that requires permanent shallow water interspersed with vegetation.
World Frog Day, established in 2014, is part of a global movement to support amphibian conservation.
In line with those efforts, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service has an ongoing partnership with the Thurston County Conservation District to provide financial and technical assistance to private landowners, with the goal of preserving habitat for species like the Oregon Spotted Frog.
“We're trying to find those win-win scenarios that meet landowner objectives and also meet objectives for priority wildlife species,” said Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Nick George.
The proclamation read by the county commissioners on Tuesday recognizes that “Thurston County faces ongoing challenges related to climate change, development pressures, land conversion, and the long-term viability of agricultural lands, making the protection and support of agriculture, grasslands and indicator species increasingly important.”
Thurston County, Fish and Wildlife and other conservation groups throughout the Pacific Northwest are working with local tribal partners, including the Nisqually Indian Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, the Squaxin Island Tribe and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, on best-practices to preserve and restore native prairies and grasslands.
“While so much of this has been tragically disrupted and disconnected, there is an opportunity and a responsibility to support the reconnection of people and place, bridging generations and restoring cultural practices and priorities of our region's grasslands chemists,” said Sarah Hammond, director of science at the nonprofit conservation group Ecostudies Institute.
As part of Tuesday’s celebration, Colvin Ranch brought one of its calves, Stormy, to the Board of Thurston County Commissioners’ meeting place at the Atrium in Olympia for attendees to meet.
An exhibit honoring the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists was also on display inside the Atrium.
