Yakima Area Arboretum is a 46-acre botanical garden in Yakima, Washington, beside the Yakima River’s riparian habitat. Once wetland and later used for chicken and vegetable farms, the site was acquired by the Yakima Metro District and established as an arboretum in 1967. Since then, its grounds have been continually developed into a broad arboretum with collections of trees and shrubs, more than 1,000 native and exotic woody plant species, a herbarium, and specialty gardens including butterfly, rose, iris, Japanese, perennial, dryland, and Xeriscape gardens. It stands as both a cultivated garden landscape and a reflection of the nearby river corridor’s ecology.