Cariboo, Electoral Area A

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

No wildfire of 1,000 ha or more has burned in Area A since 1990, in the BC Wildfire Service's perimeters.

Smaller mapped fires since 2016

Since 2016, the BC Wildfire Service mapped 6 smaller fires (under 1,000 ha) that reached Area A, newest first.

1. 2025Unnamed fire C100141.2 ha in all1.2 ha here
2. 2023Burgess Creek wildfire252 ha in all · 58% of it here146 ha here
3. 2023Green Mountain wildfire28 ha in all28 ha here
4. 2022Unnamed fire C100111.4 ha in all1.4 ha here
5. 2017Green Mountain wildfire595 ha in all595 ha here
6. 2017West Fraser Road wildfire127 ha in all · 16% of it here20 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 A's land is 99% NDT3 (burned in large fires about every 100 to 150 years) and 1% NDT4 (burned often and lightly, every 4 to 50 years). Its main biogeoclimatic zone is Sub-Boreal Spruce (99%). 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 1 wildfire event with an evacuation order or alert over Area A, alerts only. The latest: Green Mountain Wildfire, July 2017.

1. 2017Green Mountain WildfireJuly 2017 · evacuation alert · Cariboo Regional District445 homes

Listed when an order or alert area covered at least 5% of the land in Area A, or lay mostly in Area A 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 A. 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 A.

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.

29 landslides are recorded inside Area A in the Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database (version 14.0): 24 earth slides and 5 rock slides. 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 12 dams in Area A, none classed High or above for the harm a failure would do downstream. Of these, 2 are 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.

No Water Survey of Canada gauge with 5 or more years of yearly peaks stands in Area A. Just outside it, Quesnel River near Quesnel had its highest peak, 1,100 m³/s, in 2022 (30 years on record), Baker Creek at Quesnel had its highest peak, 116 m³/s, in 2007 (16 years on record) and Fraser River near Marguerite had its highest peak, 6,540 m³/s, in 2012 (54 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 Quesnel Senior Secondary air monitoring station, 4.1 km from Quesnel, fine particles passed the level of BC's 24-hour objective (25 µg/m³) on a median of 10 days a year over the 5 years with a full record, 2015 to 2019; the most was 36 days in 2018, most of them in August. 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).

In Area A, more than one of the Cariboo Regional District's bylaws may zone a lot, so whether the Province's floor applies is unclear. Under the North Cariboo Area Rural Land Use Bylaw No. 3505, 1999, a rural land use bylaw (Local Government Act s. 457), the small-scale multi-unit housing rules, suites and accessory homes included, don't apply; under the Quesnel Fringe Area Zoning Bylaw No. 3504, 1999, a zone limited to detached houses must allow at least one secondary suite or detached accessory home (a garden suite or carriage house) next to a house. Ask the Cariboo Regional District which bylaw applies to the lot; in the Agricultural Land Reserve the Commission's limits come first. How many homes you can build on a lot.

The Province's principal residence requirement doesn't apply in Area A (list in force from June 1, 2026), so the provincial rule doesn't limit short-term rentals to the host's home. Local bylaws, including the zone's own rules, can be stricter. Hosts anywhere in BC register each unit with the provincial registry. Short-term rental rules in BC.

Reports for rural lots in Area A can't name the zone: the Cariboo Regional District doesn't publish its zoning map as open data. They show what the bylaw's rural and lakeshore zones allow and say to ask.

• North Cariboo Area Rural Land Use Bylaw No. 3505, 19996 rural and lakeshore zones summarised in plain words, checked against the bylaw 2026-10-29. Two bylaws zone Electoral Areas A, B, C and I: No. 3504 the fringe around Quesnel, No. 3505 the rest. Their rural and lakeshore zones set the same rules (the resource zone is R/A in No. 3505 and RA 1 in No. 3504); other parts of the district have bylaws of their own.

Ask the CRD's planning department which zone a lot is in, or find it on the CRD's planning map, and confirm what it allows before you buy or build.

The federal boundaries put 5 reserves of ?Esdilagh First Nation and Lhtako Dene Nation in or beside Area A. On reserve land the First Nation decides land use, not the local zoning bylaw; a report says when a lot is on reserve land or within 500 m of it. Reserve land in BC, by place.

The Cariboo Regional District's building inspection covers part of Area A (Building Bylaw No. 4997): the North Cariboo service area around Quesnel. There a building permit is needed and the work is inspected; elsewhere in the area it issues none. The BC Building Code applies everywhere all the same. Our reading of the Cariboo Regional District's own page, checked 2026-10-07. Do you need a building permit on rural land?

Check one lot: is it in the ALR? · is the soil good for farming? · is it in a community watershed?

Source: Agricultural Land Reserve polygons, Agricultural Land Commission (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); 2021 census subdivision boundaries, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence).

The Province's monitoring records hold groundwater samples from 3 wells in Area A, 2003 to 2025, among them 2 of the Province's observation wells. The median passed Health Canada's limit for manganese (2 wells). 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

7 mapped aquifers lie in Area A, most wells first.

1. 1Aquifer 115: Northeast of Quesnelconfined sand and gravel (glacial)1,520 wells · moderate productivity
2. 2Aquifer 979: Quesnel, east side of the Fraser Riverfractured sedimentary rock166 wells · moderate productivity
3. 3Aquifer 382: Soda Creek 26 km north of Williams Lakeunconfined sand and gravel (medium stream system)140 wells · moderate productivity
4. 4Aquifer 117: Red Bluff south of Quesnelunconfined sand and gravel (late glacial outwash)57 wells · moderate productivity
5. 5Aquifer 122: Sardine Flatsconfined sand and gravel (glacial)55 wells · moderate productivity
6. 6Aquifer 1146: Gibraltar Minefractured crystalline bedrock45 wells · high productivity
7. 7Aquifer 121: Kersleyunconfined sand and gravel (late glacial outwash)27 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 A. 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

2 sampled lakes lie in Area A (one only partly), largest first.

1. 1Dragon Lake5 km² · 92% of it hereclarity 5.0 m (2016–2025)
2. 2Blue Lake (Narcosli Creek watershed)12.1 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 1981-2010 at the Quesnel Airport station, about 9 km from the middle of the area's addresses at Quesnel (of the communities here with a station within 30 km, the one with the most addresses); ECCC has no fuller 1991-2020 set for it. * 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 its record up to 2010 (ECCC's 1981-2010 sets give records over the station's whole history, so some dates are older than 1981). 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.

Plant hardiness zone: most homes here are in zone 4b (89%), 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 940 kWh a year for each kW of panels at the middle of the area's addresses at Quesnel, about 31 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 Quesnel, climate models project about 13 more days over 30 °C a year, a longest frost-free run about 35 days longer and about 6 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 19 days over 30 °C a year in 2041-2070 (range 14 to 33 across the models), against about 6 days in 1971-2000; a longest frost-free run of about 160 days (range 145 to 175), against about 125; and about 80% of winter's precipitation falling as snow (range 70% to 82%), against about 86%. 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 Quesnel: like a small town such as Gibsons, Sooke or Valemount (our reading), and darker than about 75% 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 Quesnel, a cloud-to-ground flash within 10 km on about 11 days a year and 0.20 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 Province lists 6 active waste discharge authorizations in Area A; the commonest kinds: soil amendment (biosolids or other wastes spread on land) (3), hazardous waste storage or treatment (1) and secondary wood processing (1). Of these, 1 may discharge to air and 1 effluent to water or 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 2 open gravel pits and quarries in Area A: Broughton Pit and Swaan Farm Pit; and one open placer mine. 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 A is 26% private, 7% Crown land with a parcel drawn (5% with no title); no parcel is mapped over 67%, 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 19 active Crown range tenures (17 grazing, 2 hay cutting) reaching into Area A, over 63% of its area, licensed for about 9,990 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 12 registered traplines over nearly all of the area and 2 guide outfitter territories over 34% in Area A. 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 A lies in wildlife management unit 5-2: the Hunting and Trapping Regulations Synopsis sets seasons and closed areas by unit. Hunting and shooting on your own property.

BC Parks maps one park or protected area, Dragon Mountain Park, a provincial park, reaching into Area A, over 2% of its land. Recreation Sites and Trails BC lists 2 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).