Thurston County has more than 200,000 acres of farms, working forests, rare prairie habitat, wetlands, and open spaces. We call farms and working forests, "working lands", and they support food production, forest products, rural communities, clean water, wildlife habitat, and resilience from floods, drought, and wildfires. The health of Thurston County's communities, economy, and natural systems is closely tied to the future of our working lands.

Thurston County has already protected approximately 5,000 acres of working lands across the county through existing programs, partnerships, and tools to support working lands conservation.

But as Thurston County grows, pressure is increasing on some of our most productive and connected working lands. There is more land worth conserving than there are resources available to protect it.