- The Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warrior Family, also known as the Warrior Program, fosters leadership skills in boys and young men across several Indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth nations on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.
- This youth-led program involves taking younger community members into ancestral lands for a variety of traditional activities, among them building and reviving clam gardens, an ancient maricultural method.
- Clam gardens consist of terraced rock walls built across small coastal bays that allow tidal sediment to accumulate and transform rocky or steep shores into flat, productive areas for clams.
- Clam garden construction and care, along with other cultural practices, such as hunting, spearfishing and medicinal-plant foraging, serve as rites of passage, helping Warrior Program youth reconnect with their heritage.
VANCOUVER ISLAND, B.C., Canada — Three young men follow a winding trail through a lush spruce, hemlock and western cedar forest. Their destination is a clam garden …