Fraser Valley, 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

Since 1990, 6 wildfires of 1,000 ha or more burned in Area A, together 79,016 ha, 34% of its land (ground that burned twice counts once). The most here was the Ainslie Creek wildfire in 2026, 54,178 ha.

1. 2026Ainslie Creek wildfire69,706 ha in all · 78% of it here54,178 ha here
2. 2026Brunswick Creek wildfire9,544 ha in all · 98% of it here9,389 ha here
3. 2023Kookipi Creek wildfire17,561 ha in all · 68% of it here12,011 ha here
4. 2021Mowhokam Creek wildfire5,098 ha in all · 21% of it here1,047 ha here
5. 2015Cougar Creek wildfire2,912 ha in all2,912 ha here
6. 1998Unnamed fire V100971,245 ha in all1,245 ha here

Smaller mapped fires since 2016

Since 2016, the BC Wildfire Service mapped 27 smaller fires (under 1,000 ha) that reached Area A, newest first. This season's are as mapped by November 9, 2026.

1. 2026Ferrabee wildfire62 ha in all62 ha here
2. 2026Unnamed fire V107530.2 ha in all0.2 ha here
3. 2025Alexandra Bridge Park wildfire2.7 ha in all · 9% of it here0.2 ha here
4. 2024Mt Widdess wildfire203 ha in all203 ha here
5. 2024Ainslie Creek wildfire9.7 ha in all9.7 ha here
6. 2024Unnamed fire V110062.3 ha in all2.3 ha here
7. 2023Scuzzy Mt. - N Face wildfire112 ha in all112 ha here
8. 2022Mehatl Creek wildfire889 ha in all889 ha here

And 19 more

1. 2022Unnamed fire V12158124 ha in all124 ha here
2. 2022South Ainslee 2 Road wildfire69 ha in all69 ha here
3. 2022Ainslie Creek wildfire28 ha in all28 ha here
4. 2022Backside Mehatl Creek wildfire5.1 ha in all5.1 ha here
5. 2022Scuzzy Creek - Monitor wildfire0.4 ha in all0.4 ha here
6. 2022Kookipi Creek wildfire0.2 ha in all0.2 ha here
7. 2021Unnamed fire V12269397 ha in all397 ha here
8. 2021Unnamed fire V12329151 ha in all151 ha here
9. 2021Unnamed fire V12312104 ha in all104 ha here
10. 2019Spuzzum Creek wildfire13 ha in all13 ha here
11. 2019Unnamed fire V101232.4 ha in all2.4 ha here
12. 2019Boothroyd wildfire2.2 ha in all2.2 ha here
13. 2018Unnamed fire V12179411 ha in all · 22% of it here89 ha here
14. 2018Unnamed fire V12169282 ha in all · 97% of it here274 ha here
15. 2018Unnamed fire V1020518 ha in all18 ha here
16. 2018Unnamed fire V102951 ha in all1 ha here
17. 2017Unnamed fire V119300.2 ha in all0.2 ha here
18. 2017Unnamed fire V120510.2 ha in all0.2 ha here
19. 2016Unnamed fire V104974.1 ha in all4.1 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 60% NDT2 (burned in large fires about every 200 years), 22% NDT5 (alpine tundra and subalpine parkland), 9% NDT4 (burned often and lightly, every 4 to 50 years), 8% NDT1 (rarely burned, about every 250 to 350 years and in patches) and 1% NDT3 (burned in large fires about every 100 to 150 years). Its main biogeoclimatic zones are Engelmann Spruce–Subalpine Fir (38%), Coastal Western Hemlock (34%) and Mountain Hemlock (12%). 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 3 wildfire events with an evacuation order or alert over Area A, 2 with an order. The latest order: Brunswick Wildfire, July 2026.

1. 2026Brunswick WildfireJuly 2026 · evacuation order · Fraser Valley Regional District343 homes
2. 2023Kookipi Creek WildfireAugust 2023 · evacuation order and alert · Fraser Valley Regional District380 homes
3. 2021Mowhokam Creek WildfireAugust 2021 · evacuation alert · FVRD and Boothroyd Indian Band40 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.

391 landslides are recorded inside Area A in the Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database (version 14.0), including 157 debris flows, 60 earth slides and 34 debris floods. The latest with a date of its own: a debris flow, 10 Aug 2024 (listed under “Nahatlatch River (Kookipi Creek Fire - V11337 - 2023)”). 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 one dam in Area A, none classed High or above for the harm a failure would do downstream. 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.

One Water Survey of Canada gauge in Area A has 5 or more years of yearly peak flows: Nahatlatch River below Tachewana Creek peaked highest at 587 m³/s in 2021 (47 years on record). That set its record in the last 10 years. 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.

Radon

Area A lies in 2 health regions. In Fraser East (about 90% of the area), 3 of the 100 homes tested (3%) were at or above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline; In Thompson Cariboo Shuswap (about 10% of the area), 7 of the 109 homes tested (6.4%) were at or above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline, in Health Canada's 2009–2011 survey; 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).

Area A is outside the Province's speculation and vacancy tax area, so the tax doesn't apply to a home here. Our summary of the Province's pages, read 2026-10-04. Where the tax applies, and who pays.

The typical home here is the median value owners gave the 2021 census, and the typical household's income is the median for 2020: a home that costs 4.5 years of income took that many years of a typical household's whole income. "Typical" for places its size is the middle of BC's rural electoral areas.

Source: Census of Population 2021, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence).

In Area A, 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. A floor of 3 or 4 homes applies on rural land only inside an urban containment boundary drawn in a regional growth strategy, and most rural land is outside one. None of it applies on land in an Islands Trust local trust area or under a rural land use bylaw, and 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 lots in Area A can't name the zone: we have no open zoning map for it (see the places covered).

Ask the Fraser Valley Regional District for a lot's zone and what it allows.

The federal boundaries put 35 reserves of Boothroyd, Boston Bar First Nation and Spuzzum 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 Fraser Valley Regional District's building inspection covers part of Area A (Building Bylaw No. 1188, 2013): the Boston Bar and North Bend fire protection area, where a public road reaches the land. There a building permit is needed and the work is inspected; elsewhere in the area it issues none. The bylaw exempts land no Ministry of Transportation or municipal road reaches. The BC Building Code applies everywhere all the same. Our reading of the Fraser Valley Regional District's own page, checked 2026-10-07. Do you need a building permit on rural land?

The Province maps 8 designated community watersheds, Stoyoma Community Watershed, Jamieson Community Watershed and Centre Community Watershed among them, over 2% of Area A: land draining to a licensed drinking-water intake, where logging and roads on Crown land must protect the supply. A report says whether a lot lies in one and whose water it is. Community watersheds in BC, by place.

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 1 well in Area A, 2005 to 2006, among them 1 water system's well. No well's median passed Health Canada's limits for arsenic, fluoride, manganese, uranium, nitrate or lead. 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

No mapped aquifer within the boundary of Area A.

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. 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

No lake in Area A has clarity or nutrient readings in the province's monitoring records.

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).

No climate station with published normals within 30 km of any of its settled places.

Plant hardiness zone: most homes here are in zone 8a (50%); 48% are in 7b, 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 1,000 kWh a year for each kW of panels at Boston Bar, about 37 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 Boston Bar, climate models project about 16 more days over 30 °C a year, a longest frost-free run about 45 days longer and about 16 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 22 days over 30 °C a year in 2041-2070 (range 16 to 39 across the models), against about 6 days in 1971-2000; a longest frost-free run of about 200 days (range 175 to 225), against about 155; and about 46% of winter's precipitation falling as snow (range 34% to 50%), against about 62%. 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 Boston Bar: faint, as around Wells or Lytton (our reading), and darker than about 87% 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 Boston Bar, a cloud-to-ground flash within 10 km on about 3 days a year and 0.06 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); 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 5 active waste discharge authorizations in Area A; the commonest kinds: sewage treatment or discharge site (2), composting site (1) and landfill, transfer station or other solid waste site (1). Of these, 2 may discharge effluent to water or land and 2 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 no open gravel pit or quarry in Area A, but one open mineral exploration permit area. 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 1% private, 2% Crown land with a parcel drawn (2% with no title); no parcel is mapped over 96%, 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 3 active Crown range tenures (3 grazing) reaching into Area A, over less than 1% of its area, licensed for about 2,253 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 11 registered traplines over 88% of the area and 4 guide outfitter territories over nearly all 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 units 3-15 (70%), 3-14 (28%): the Hunting and Trapping Regulations Synopsis sets seasons and closed areas by unit. Hunting and shooting on your own property.

BC Parks maps 6 parks and protected areas (Alexandra Bridge Park, a provincial park; Mehatl Creek Park, a provincial park; Nahatlatch Park, a provincial park; Nahatlatch Protected Area; and 2 more) reaching into Area A, over 12% of its land. Recreation Sites and Trails BC lists 6 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).

Fewer than 1,000 people live here, so Statistics Canada rounds these counts and leaves out some figures (shown as –).

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).