NAA'WAYA'SUM GARDENS - A PLACE OF IISAAK
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK | 9:00am-5:00pm
Naa’Waya’Sum Coastal Indigenous Garden is a place where nature and knowledge reconnect. At the heart of our gardens lies the Nuu-chah-nulth principle of IISAAK—to observe, appreciate, and act accordingly.
Welcome to our living classroom. We invite you to step into a space where the forest is reclaiming its voice, and where the wisdom of the
Tla-o-qui-aht people guides our path forward. This is more than a garden; it is a practice.
As you walk the 12 acres of our coastal temperate rainforest, we invite you to move slowly. Listen to the cedar trees, notice the moss-draped branches, and look out over the inlet. Every trail, viewpoint, and carving here is an invitation to engage with the land not as a resource to be dominated, but as a living teacher to be respected.
Explore and use this map below to guide your visit throught the Naa’Waya’Sum Gardens and surrounding campus. It highlights key gathering spaces, learning sites, trails and points of interest.
Annual Adult Memberships
Valid: April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027-
Access to the 12 Acre Gardens and Trails
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15% Discount at the Cafe everyday
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Support Local Indigenous Programming
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Discounted Rates for Seniors and Youth.
BUY YOUR TICKETS UPON ARRIVAL, OR PROVIDE PROOF OF PURCHASE AT CHECK-IN.
Single Day Pass
Valid: May 1, 2026 to September 1, 2026-
Access to the 12 Acre Gardens and Trails
-
10% Discount at the Cafe
-
Support Local Indigenous Programming
-
Discounted Rates for Seniors and Youth.
Please check in at reception to receive your Membership Card.
BUY YOUR TICKETS UPON ARRIVAL, OR PROVIDE PROOF OF PURCHASE AT CHECK-IN.
WHY ARE WE RE-WILDING?
For many years, this property was maintained as a European-style botanical garden. Today, we are undertaking a transformative shift. We are returning this land to its wild, native state to honor the original intelligence of the forest.
Rewilding is our act of healing. Here is why this work is vital:
Restoring Traditional Forest Gardens: For millennia, Indigenous peoples have managed these landscapes with sophistication—tending to soil, cultivating medicine, and fostering food crops that work with the ecosystem to boost biodiversity. We are bringing that ancient knowledge back to the surface.
Healing the Land: Industrial history has left its mark on our forests. Rewilding allows us to undo that damage, inviting native species to thrive once more and restoring the natural health of our soil and water.
Reclamation & Sovereignty: By applying traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) to modern conservation, we are not just gardening; we are exercising active governance over our ancestral territories. This is how we begin to heal the relationship between people and place.