Bulkley-Nechako, Electoral Area B

Its land, ranked in BC

Shares of the land area, worked out from the Province's maps. Fire perimeters before the 1950s are less complete. A title or a past fire somewhere in the area says nothing about a given lot: a property report checks the parcel itself.

Large fires (1,000 ha or more) since 1990

Since 1990, 5 wildfires of 1,000 ha or more burned in Area B, together 28,821 ha, 8% of its land (ground that burned twice counts once). The most here was unnamed fire R11498 in 2018, 9,950 ha.

1. 2023Tintagel wildfire8,044 ha in all8,044 ha here
2. 2023Pinkut Creek wildfire6,891 ha in all6,891 ha here
3. 2023Old Man Lake wildfire2,061 ha in all · 15% of it here312 ha here
4. 2018Unnamed fire R1149892,412 ha in all · 11% of it here9,950 ha here
5. 2014China Nose wildfire3,625 ha in all3,625 ha here

Smaller mapped fires since 2016

Since 2016, the BC Wildfire Service mapped 22 smaller fires (under 1,000 ha) that reached Area B, newest first. This season's are as mapped by November 9, 2026.

1. 2026Unnamed fire R102471.7 ha in all1.7 ha here
2. 2025Unnamed fire R101662 ha in all2 ha here
3. 2024Maxan Lake wildfire3.6 ha in all3.6 ha here
4. 2023Unnamed fire R11274428 ha in all428 ha here
5. 2023Unnamed fire R11378374 ha in all374 ha here
6. 2023Unnamed fire R13124237 ha in all237 ha here
7. 2023Unnamed fire R11546126 ha in all126 ha here
8. 2023Eagle Creek FSR wildfire3 ha in all3 ha here

And 14 more

1. 2023Unnamed fire R119682.2 ha in all2.2 ha here
2. 2023Unnamed fire R119632 ha in all2 ha here
3. 2023Laurel Road wildfire1.9 ha in all1.9 ha here
4. 2023Unnamed fire R114280.3 ha in all0.3 ha here
5. 2022Unnamed fire R1169213 ha in all13 ha here
6. 2021Bulkley Lake wildfire182 ha in all182 ha here
7. 2021Pinkut Creek wildfire4.1 ha in all4.1 ha here
8. 2021Bartlett Rd wildfire1.4 ha in all1.4 ha here
9. 2019Unnamed fire R100952.4 ha in all2.4 ha here
10. 2018Unnamed fire R10672135 ha in all135 ha here
11. 2018Unnamed fire R1058296 ha in all · 70% of it here67 ha here
12. 2018Unnamed fire R105963.3 ha in all3.3 ha here
13. 2017Unnamed fire R101962.5 ha in all2.5 ha here
14. 2016Unnamed fire R100231.8 ha in all1.8 ha here

Small fires that were never mapped as a perimeter aren't listed: the BC Wildfire Service maps an outline for only some of the fires it records. Past fire is history, not a forecast. The chance of fire on a lot today depends on what the record doesn't show: the forest and grass around it, the slope, what has been thinned or burned since, and how far it is from a fire hall. Every BC season and large fire since 1990.

Sources: BC Wildfire Fire Perimeters – Historical, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Perimeters – Current, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Incident Locations – Historical, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Locations – Current, BC Wildfire Service (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), as published on November 10, 2026; 2021 census subdivision boundaries, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence). Outlines simplified and places measured by PlaceDossier.

How the land burned

On the Province's ecosystem map, Area B's land is 76% NDT3 (burned in large fires about every 100 to 150 years), 24% NDT2 (burned in large fires about every 200 years) and under 1% NDT5 (alpine tundra and subalpine parkland). Its main biogeoclimatic zones are Sub-Boreal Spruce (76%) and Engelmann Spruce–Subalpine Fir (24%). This is how the land burned before fires were put out, not its fire risk today. A report names the type over a lot. Every place's natural fire regime.

Source: BEC Map (biogeoclimatic zones and natural disturbance types), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), read 2026-10-12; areas worked out on the census boundaries.

Evacuations since April 2017

Since April 2017, the Province's record holds 4 wildfire events with an evacuation order or alert over Area B, 1 with an order. The latest order: Pinkut Lake Wildfire, July 2023.

1. 2023Pinkut Lake WildfireJuly 2023 · evacuation order and alert · Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako60 homes
2. 2023Tintagel WildfireJuly 2023 · evacuation alert · Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako153 homes
3. 2021Bulkley Lake WildfireJuly 2021 · evacuation alert · Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako71 homes
4. 2018Shovel Lake WildfireJuly 2018 · evacuation alert · Regional District Bulkley-Nechako21 homes

Listed when an order or alert area covered at least 5% of the land in Area B, or lay mostly in Area B and held at least 5% as many homes as the 2021 census counted there. An order means people were told to leave; an alert, to be ready to leave. Homes are the record's own counts, area by area, shown where the areas lie mostly in Area B. The Province's record starts in April 2017: earlier evacuations aren't in it. A lot's report checks every order and alert over the lot itself, and any in effect now.

Sources: Historical Orders and Alerts, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), as published on November 2, 2026; 2021 census subdivision boundaries and dwelling counts, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence). Each order and alert area placed in the municipalities and electoral areas it covers by us.

Evacuations for floods, landslides and other hazards since April 2017

None of the flood, landslide or other non-fire evacuation orders or alerts in the Province's record since April 2017 covered 5% or more of the land or homes in Area B.

Sources: Historical Orders and Alerts, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), as published on November 2, 2026; 2021 census subdivision boundaries and dwelling counts, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence). Each order and alert area placed in the municipalities and electoral areas it covers by us.

39 landslides are recorded inside Area B in the Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database (version 14.0), including 29 earth slides, 5 rock slides and 3 earth flows. The database lists slides known to have happened, mapped from inventories, satellite images and lidar. It isn't a hazard map, and some parts of BC are mapped in far more detail than others. Landslides near a given lot.

The Province lists 5 dams in Area B, none classed High or above for the harm a failure would do downstream. One of them is recorded as breached (failed). The class rates what a failure would do, not how likely one is; a report names the dams within 1 km of a lot. Dams in BC, by place.

3 Water Survey of Canada gauges in Area B have 5 or more years of yearly peak flows: Pinkut Creek near Tintagel peaked highest at 107 m³/s in 2011 (54 years on record), Twain Creek Tributary near Babine Lake peaked highest at 3.4 m³/s in 2006 (16 years on record) and Maxan Creek above Bulkley Lake peaked highest at 36.8 m³/s in 1976 (5 years on record). A gauge's record is the river where it stands, not a flood line; a report gives the nearest gauge on a river by the lot. River gauges in BC, by place.

Poor-air days: at the Burns Lake Fire Centre air monitoring station, 1.4 km from Burns Lake, fine particles passed the level of BC's 24-hour objective (25 µg/m³) on a median of 3 days a year over the 11 years with a full record, 2015 to 2025; the most was 23 days in 2023. These days fell both in the wildfire season and in winter (our reading: wildfire smoke in summer, wood smoke held in by still air in winter). How smoky it gets across BC.

Radon

In the Northern Interior health region, 25 of the 208 homes tested (12%) in Health Canada's 2009–2011 survey were at or above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline; across BC, 143 of 1,817 (7.9%).

The survey tested about a hundred volunteer homes per health region, with one long-term test each. That gives a rough regional picture: it isn't a map, and a region where few or none tested high can still have homes above the guideline. The only way to know is to test the home: radon and buying a home in BC.

Source: Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011), Health Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Health Service Delivery Area Boundaries, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

Check one lot: has it burned? · is it on a floodplain map? · is it behind a dike? · is there a dam nearby? · landslides nearby? · contaminated sites nearby? · radon? · how much is too steep?

Source: Agricultural Land Reserve polygons, Agricultural Land Commission (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Fire perimeters – historical, BC Wildfire Service (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Mineral, placer and coal tenures, Mineral Titles Branch (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database, version 14.0 (May 2026), Brideau et al. (CC BY 4.0); 2021 census subdivision boundaries, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence).

The Province's monitoring records hold groundwater samples from 2 wells in Area B, 2008. The median passed Health Canada's limit for arsenic (1 well). A report names the nearest sampled wells within 10 km of a lot. A neighbouring well isn't your water: test your own. What BC's well water tests for, by place.

Mapped aquifers

10 mapped aquifers lie in Area B, most wells first.

1. 1Aquifer 644: Northeast of Burns and Decker Lakesfractured crystalline bedrock31 wells · low productivity
2. 2Aquifer 654: Topley Bedrockfractured crystalline bedrock13 wells · low productivity
3. 3Aquifer 648: North of Decker Lakeconfined sand and gravel (glacial)13 wells · moderate productivity
4. 4Aquifer 647: East shore of Decker Lakeconfined sand and gravel (glacial)10 wells · moderate productivity
5. 5Aquifer 645: Gerow Island and south shore of Burns Lakeconfined sand and gravel (glacial)10 wells · high productivity
6. 6Aquifer 652: Northwest of Burns Lake; south of Old Woman Lakeflat-lying to gently-dipping volcanic bedrock7 wells · moderate productivity
7. 7Aquifer 649: North shore of Burns Lakeconfined sand and gravel (glacial)7 wells · high productivity
8. 8Aquifer 651: North shore of Burns Lakeflat-lying to gently-dipping volcanic bedrock7 wells · low productivity
9. 9Aquifer 653: Rose Lake; northwest of Burns Lakeconfined sand and gravel (glacial)7 wells · moderate productivity
10. 10Aquifer 646: Between Burns and Tchesinkut Lakesfractured crystalline bedrock2 wells · low productivity

An aquifer is listed for each place that holds at least a twentieth of it, so a sliver of one at the edge can be left out. Wells and productivity are for the whole aquifer, which can reach well beyond Area B. The province maps aquifers mostly in settled valleys, so a lot outside every outline can still have groundwater. Every mapped aquifer in BC · sampled lakes.

Sampled lakes

7 sampled lakes lie in Area B (2 only partly), largest first.

1. 1Babine Lake467 km² · 22% of it hereclarity 5.2 m (2016–2025)
2. 2Burns Lake13 km² · 93% of it hereclarity 1.9 m (2016–2026)
3. 3Decker Lake12 km²too few readings to judge
4. 4Augier Lake9 km²too few readings to judge
5. 5Maxan Lake7 km²too few readings to judge
6. 6Bulkley Lake2 km²too few readings to judge
7. 7Nellian Lake59.3 hatoo few readings to judge

A lake is listed for each place that holds at least a twentieth of it or 100 ha of it. Clarity is the median summer Secchi depth; the nutrient class is our reading of Carlson's index from phosphorus or chlorophyll, not a provincial rating. Either is given only for a lake with at least 10 summer readings from open water, spread over at least 3 different years, since 2012. Most lakes have never been sampled, so a lake missing here may simply have no record. Every sampled lake in BC.

Source: Groundwater wells (GWELLS), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Ground Water Aquifers, Water Protection and Sustainability Branch, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); BC Environmental Monitoring Data System (EnMoDS) results, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); 2021 census subdivision boundaries, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence).

Normals for 1991-2020 at the Burns Lake Decker Lake station, about 22 km from the middle of the area's addresses at Burns Lake (of the communities here with a station within 30 km, the one with the most addresses). Its normals don't include yearly precipitation, yearly snowfall, the frost-free period or days with snow on the ground, so those are left out. * Based on at least 20 or 15 of the 30 years, short of the World Meteorological Organization's standard: treat as a rougher guide. The records are single days measured at the station: the most rain, snow and wind it saw in 1991-2020. Each is one event, not what to expect in a year, and the lot can get more or less than the station. Elevation matters a lot in BC: a hillside lot can be much colder and snowier than the station. We don't set this station's figures against other places: it's more than 15 km from the place.

Plant hardiness zone: most homes here are in zone 3b (76%); 24% are in 3a, on Natural Resources Canada's 2025 map. Higher numbers are milder winters. What the zones mean.

Solar panels: a south-facing panel tilted at the latitude would make about 880 kWh a year for each kW of panels at the middle of the area's addresses at Burns Lake, about 30 of it in December (estimated from Natural Resources Canada's 1998-2022 sunshine map). An open sky is assumed: the hills, trees and buildings around a lot cut it, and a report sets the lot's own skyline beside it. What solar panels would make in BC.

By the 2050s (2041-2070) at Burns Lake, climate models project about 3 more days over 30 °C a year, a longest frost-free run about 35 days longer and about 4 percentage points less of winter's precipitation falling as snow, each against the same models' 1971-2000 (model projections under SSP2-4.5, a middle path for emissions). The models work on a grid of about 9 by 6 km, which averages valley floors with the slopes around them, so their own figures can sit well off a station's normals and aren't comparable with them. Their own figures there: about 3 days over 30 °C a year in 2041-2070 (range 2 to 8 across the models), against under 1 day in 1971-2000; a longest frost-free run of about 135 days (range 125 to 160), against about 100; and about 88% of winter's precipitation falling as snow (range 80% to 90%), against about 92%. The ranges run from the 10th to the 90th percentile of the models' 2041-2070 figures. The 2050s across BC.

Light at night within 1 km of the middle of the area's addresses at Burns Lake: faint, as around Wells or Lytton (our reading), and darker than about 82% of BC's homes (2024 satellite record). A lot away from the centre can be much darker. How dark are BC's nights?

Lightning: around the middle of the area's addresses at Burns Lake, a cloud-to-ground flash within 10 km on about 6 days a year and 0.11 flashes per km² a year, more than at 3 in 4 BC homes (the Canadian Lightning Detection Network, 1998-2025 average, on a grid of about 11 by 7 km).

Source: Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020 and 1981-2010, Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Plant hardiness zones of Canada (2025 map), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model (MRDEM-30), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Solar position: General Solar Position Calculations (NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory; Spencer, 1971) (Public domain); Daily average solar irradiance on tilted surfaces for all of Canada (1998-2022), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Photovoltaic Potential and Solar Resource Maps of Canada (performance ratio), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Statistically downscaled climate indices from CMIP6 global climate models (CanDCS-M6), Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium, via the Canadian Centre for Climate Services (Open Government Licence – Canada); Air Quality and Climate Monitoring: Verified Hourly Air Quality and Meteorological Data (fine particulate matter, PM2.5), BC Ministry of Environment and Parks (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); VIIRS Nighttime Lights, 2024 annual composite, Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines (Elvidge et al. 2021, Remote Sensing 13(5):922), via Hengl, OpenGeoHub, Zenodo doi 10.5281/zenodo.7750174 (CC BY 4.0); Canadian Lightning Detection Network cloud-to-ground flashes (CanCPLDv1), Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada).

The BC Energy Regulator maps about 108 km of active oil and gas pipeline in Area B, permitted to Pacific Northern Gas Ltd. A report lists any pipeline within 200 m of a lot, and flags one within 30 m, where digging needs the permit holder's agreement. Pipelines in BC, by place.

The Province lists 14 active waste discharge authorizations in Area B; the commonest kinds: sewage treatment or discharge site (4), mine (2) and sawmill or other primary wood processing (2). Of these, 5 may discharge to air, 6 effluent to water or land and 3 refuse to land. A report lists any within 2 km of a lot, and flags one whose point is on it. Permitted discharges in BC, by place.

The Province maps 11 open gravel pits and quarries in Area B, among them Farm Pit, Eagle Creek Pit and Hamp - New Rose Lake Pit; and 4 other open mine permits: 1 mineral exploration permit area and 3 mineral exploration or mine permit areas. A report lists the permits within 2 km of a lot, names an open pit or quarry within 500 m and flags one whose permit area takes in the lot. Gravel pits and mine permits in BC, by place.

On ParcelMap BC, the land in Area B is 5% private, 16% Crown land with a parcel drawn (14% with no title); no parcel is mapped over 79%, likely most of it untitled Crown land, with lakes and road allowances. A report says who owns the land along a lot's line. Crown land next to a property, and every place's land by owner.

The Ministry of Forests maps 23 active Crown range tenures (23 grazing) reaching into Area B, over 9% of its area, licensed for about 4,436 animal unit months of grazing a year in all. Outside a pound district, keeping livestock off a lot is the owner's fence to build. A report lists any tenure within 1 km of a lot. Open range and grazing in BC, by place.

The Province maps 38 registered traplines over nearly all of the area and 7 guide outfitter territories over nearly all in Area B. The maps are drawn over titled land too, but traplines are registered on Crown land: on titled land, anyone but the owner or occupier needs their written permission to trap. A report says whether either takes in a lot. Traplines and guiding territories in BC, by place.

Area B lies in wildlife management units 6-6 (43%), 6-5 (18%), 6-9 (16%), 6-4 (11%), 6-8 (11%): the Hunting and Trapping Regulations Synopsis sets seasons and closed areas by unit. Hunting and shooting on your own property.

BC Parks maps 8 parks and protected areas (Babine Lake Marine Park - Pendleton Bay Site, a provincial park; Babine Lake Marine Park - Pierre Creek Site, a provincial park; Babine Lake Marine Park - Pinkut Creek Site, a provincial park; Burns Lake Park, a provincial park; and 4 more) reaching into Area B, over 1% of its land. Recreation Sites and Trails BC lists 12 sites there. A report names the nearest park and recreation site within 25 km of a lot. Parks and recreation sites in BC, by place.

Check one lot: is there a mineral claim? · power lines nearby? · pipelines nearby? · a gravel pit nearby? · a landfill or plant nearby? · logging planned nearby? · cattle on open range? · is there a trapline? · can I hunt on it? · a park nearby? · Crown land next door?

Source: Mineral, placer and coal tenures, Mineral Titles Branch (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); 2021 census subdivision boundaries, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence).

Census figures are from 2021; the next census results start in 2027. Area boundaries are Statistics Canada's census subdivisions, which follow municipal and electoral area lines. The places named at the top are the official place names in the area (BC Geographical Names) with the most 2021 homes nearer them than any other name, on ISED's home points: our reading.

Source: Census of Population 2021, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence); BC Geographical Names, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Pseudo-Household Demographic Distribution (2021), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada).