Environmental Education & Natural History Tours

We offer the following programs to school groups, university and colleges and to private groups interested in learning more about the natural history of Clayoquot Sound.

Please ask about the Tofino Botanical Gardens Scholarship Program if your school group needs financial assitance.

Mudflats Program

The Tofino Mudflats is an estuarine ecosystem right on the edge of Tofino, an internationally significant migratory stop-over for shorebirds and among the top ten most critical wetlands for wintering waterfowl on Canada's west coast. Over 100,000 shorebirds including western sandpipers, short-billed and long-billed dowitchers, dunlin, least sandpipers, sanderling and black-bellied plovers have been tallied in the Tofino Mudflats Area during the spring migration. They appear to be quiet and calm, but this vast expanse of mud supports millions of creatures living just below its surface. 

This 90 minute guided interpretive walk will introduce you to the flora and fauna of the mudflats, from unicellular algae to great blue herons.  You will also learn what kind of impact human activity is having on mudflat and estuarine ecosystems and what you can do about it.

What is a 20-metre long gray whale doing scooping up mud in water that is only 3-metres deep? After a quick scoop of rich coastal mud, an interpreter gently passes around a ghost shrimp for students to examine as s/he describes the ecological significance of the intricate food chain happening underneath the coastal sediments. Now imagine that you’ve eaten so much seafood that you doubled your weight in 48 hours and then had to fly from Vancouver Island to Alaska. While it sounds scientifically impossible, your interpreter explains why thousands of shorebirds need to take the phrase “all you can eat seafood buffet” to the extreme every year, and why these mudflats are critical to North American shorebird’s survival. These and other astonishing scientific facts and questions are explored while your group has fun getting their feet and fingers muddy with hands-on learning. You'll never look at mud the same way again.

Cost:
$75 per group if staying at the Field Station
$85 per group if staying off-site

Old Growth Rainforest Walk

Coastal temperate rainforests are one of the world’s rarest ecosystems. The Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve contains some of the world’s best examples of intact coastal temperate rainforests, and the Tofino Botanical Gardens is fortunate to have sections of Clayoquot Sound’s old growth rainforest right here on our waterfront property. 

This 90 minute guided interpretive walk takes participants through the trails that wind through our 12-acre property. [many of the trails are wheel chair-accessible]

The questions answered in this program highlight the mystery and intrigue that scientists have discovered about these ancient ecosystems. How many species remain to be discovered in the world? Looking straight up into the canopy from the Old Growth Boardwalk, an interpreter explains how the Tofino Botanical Gardens is working with a rainforest canopy research team that is discovering new arthropod species in Clayoquot Sound.How do you find a marbled murrelet nest?Standing amongst the ancient forest, an interpreter explains why scientists failed to find the marbled murrelet’s nest until well into the 1970s, why the nests were so hard to find, and how Clayoquot Sound and high frequency radar helped in the hunt. What is convergent evolution? A trip through the Gardens’ Chilean temperate rainforest exhibit gives a rare hands-on perspective of this fascinating evolutionary phenomenon.

These and other scientific stories are related to elementary and high school students from around Canada who stay at the Clayoquot Field Station in the Tofino Botanical Gardens while on field trips.

Cost:
$75 per group if staying at the Field Station
$85 per group if staying off-site

Intertidal Program

Between high tide and low tide there is a magical world filled with an incredible diversity of life that we can see only for a few hours every day. From anemones and arthropods to sponges and seastars, the intertidal zone is literally buzzing with life. This two hour intertidal walk follows the Chesterman Beach tombolo (a large sandbar) out to Frank Island, where you will learn about the stresses of being an intertidal organism, and the tactics that intertidal life has developed to withstand those stresses. How do snails and crabs survive hot sun and drenching rain? Are sea stars just the colourful docile creatures they seem, or are they a voracious predator terrorizing mussels and barnacles? Which seaweed contains a natural shock absorber? Which intertidal creature lives its entire life on its head? Who grows teeth on its tongue to eat? All these questions and more will be answered!

Cost:
$75 per group if staying at the Field Station
$85 per group if staying off-site

Note: Transportation to Chesterman Beach required and not included in price. The beach is about a 20 minute walk from the Gardens.

Sea Otter Program

The last sea otter in BC was killed in 1929 following two centuries of commercial hunting, yet today there are about 3,500 sea otters in British Columbia. This 90 minute presentation and discussion with local marine biologist Josie Osborne focuses on the return of this animal to BC waters and its story. Why were sea otters so valuable? How did sea otter hunting become a key turning point in the history of coastal BC? Now that this "keystone species" is making a comeback, what kind of impact is its recovery having? Join us to find out!

Cost:
$75 per group if staying at the Field Station
$85 per group if staying off-site

Educational Exhibits

There are 23 educational exhibits throughout our property. The exhibits consist of plants (mostly native with some cultivars), structures and interpretive signage explaining the ecological significance of the exhibit. The Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation acknowledges our region’s varied cultural histories throughout our exhibits, highlighting how different environmental aspects were crucial to the culture’s lifestyles and livelihoods.

Cost:
$75 per group if staying at the Field Station
$85 per group if staying off-site