It’s a bill! The 5th & 6th-grade students of Pacific Beach Elementary school have asked the state legislature to add razor clams to the pantheon of state symbols — and six legislators have responded by sponsoring  Senate bill SB 5560, designating  the razor clam as the state clam!

The students had “Razor Clam Day” on January 15, 2025, under guidance of their classroom teacher, Jessica Vicente. The students enjoyed presentations from a retired Fish & Wildlife officer and a Quinault Indian Nation official; they also dissected a clam and made art reflecting what they learned. Nearly all the students at the school are experienced razor clammers.

Young students throughout the state are enthusiastic about razor clamming and making the razor clam the state clam, as evidenced by the pictures below.

Please take a moment to let your legislators know you support the students in their quest, and share your own enthusiasm for razor clamming, at the link here. It’s easy and just takes a minute.

Images from “Razor Clam Day” at Pacific Beach Elementary, Pacific Beach, WA, on January 15th.

Art from a student on Long Beach peninsula, Washington

See more photos here

The Pacific razor clam well deserves the honor of becoming a state symbol. Please join the effort by signing the petition on this website and being in touch. Here is a link to the current bill and its status.

Razor clamming has been an integral part of the state’s culture and history, and continues to be. It provides food, income and recreational adventure. It is a fun, nature-oriented activity that attracts men and women of all ages, and families. In recent years there have been about 400,000 recreational digger trips annually. A lot of folks!

Pacific razor clams are endemic to the Pacific Northwest and especially abundant on Washington’s coastal beaches. They have been part of the culture of coastal Native American tribes from time immemorial.

Washington has a variety of state symbols, such as a state bird, state song, state flower and state amphibian.  One other state in the union has a clam species as a state symbol, Rhode Island with the quahaug, which is designated as the state shell.

In recognition of the razor clams’ significance to Washington’s history, identity and economy, and to further steward and educate, we applaud this effort to designate the Pacific razor clam, Siliqua patula, as the state clam.

See 2024 story in The Seattle Times (razor clam vs geoduck), and also story in the Aberdeen Daily World.