Saltspring Island

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 Saltspring Island since 1990, in the BC Wildfire Service's perimeters.

Smaller mapped fires since 2016

No fire under 1,000 ha that the BC Wildfire Service mapped since 2016 reached Saltspring Island.

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, all of Saltspring Island's land is NDT2: forest where large fires replaced the stand about every 200 years on average, leaving wide even-aged stands with a few older trees that survived. Its main biogeoclimatic zones are Coastal Douglas-fir (78%) and Coastal Western Hemlock (22%). 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

None of the wildfire evacuation orders or alerts in the Province's record since April 2017 covered 5% or more of the land or homes in Saltspring Island.

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

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.

1 landslide is recorded inside Saltspring Island in the Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database (version 14.0): 1 debris flood. The latest with a date of its own: a debris flood, 15 Nov 2021 (listed under “Salt Spring Island”). 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 24 dams in Saltspring Island, 2 of them classed High or above for the harm a failure would do downstream: Saltspring Island Golf Course Dam (High) and Maxwell Lake Dam (High). 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 Saltspring Island has 5 or more years of yearly peak flows: Cusheon Creek at Outlet of Cusheon Lake peaked highest at 3 m³/s in 1997 (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 Duncan Deykin Avenue air monitoring station, 11 km from Salt Spring Island, fine particles passed the level of BC's 24-hour objective (25 µg/m³) on a median of 2 days a year over the 8 years with a full record, 2016 to 2023; the most was 13 days in 2017, most of them in August. Most of these days fell from June to September, the wildfire season (our reading: mostly wildfire smoke). How smoky it gets across BC.

Radon

In the South Vancouver Island health region, 1 of the 55 homes tested (1.8%) in Health Canada's 2009–2011 survey was 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 Saltspring Island, 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 applies in Saltspring Island (list in force from June 1, 2026): a short-term rental (under 90 days) is limited to the host's own home plus one secondary suite or garden suite on the same property. Land assessed as a farm (class 9) is exempt. 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 Saltspring Island can't name the zone: we have no open zoning map for it (see the places covered).

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

The Province's list of heritage conservation areas has one in Saltspring Island: the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee's Ganges Village Core heritage conservation area. On a lot inside one, subdividing, building, adding on or altering a building or the land needs a heritage alteration permit first, unless the plan exempts the work; a report says whether a lot is inside. What a heritage conservation area means for a property.

The federal boundaries put one reserve, Fulford Harbour 5 (Tsawout First Nation), in or beside Saltspring Island. 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.

5,787 titled lots in Saltspring Island are in the Islands Trust's Salt Spring Island local trust area (counted by us on the Province's map). There a local trust committee writes the zoning, and the Province's small-scale housing minimums don't apply. A report says when a lot is in one. Buying on the Gulf Islands: what the Islands Trust decides.

The Capital Regional District's building inspection covers all of Saltspring Island (Building Regulation Bylaw No. 3741): building, adding on, moving or demolishing a building needs a building permit, and the work is inspected. Our reading of the Capital 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 140 wells in Saltspring Island, 2002 to 2020, among them 3 of the Province's observation wells. The median passed Health Canada's limit for arsenic (11 wells), fluoride (9 wells), manganese (18 wells), nitrate (6 wells) and lead (3 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

8 mapped aquifers lie in Saltspring Island, most wells first.

1. 1Aquifer 721: North Salt Spring Islandfractured sedimentary rock1,051 wells · low productivity
2. 2Aquifer 722: North-Central Salt Spring Islandfractured sedimentary rock488 wells · low productivity
3. 3Aquifer 1147: South-Central Salt Spring Islandfractured crystalline bedrock480 wells · low productivity
4. 4Aquifer 723: South Salt Spring Islandfractured crystalline bedrock238 wells · low productivity
5. 5Aquifer 157: Fulford Aquiferunconfined sand and gravel (late glacial outwash)21 wells · moderate productivity
6. 6Aquifer 155: Walker Hookconfined sand and gravel (glacial)20 wells · low productivity
7. 7Aquifer 156: Ganges Harbourunconfined sand and gravel (late glacial outwash)14 wells · low productivity
8. 8Aquifer 1148: Greenwoodunconfined sand and gravel (alluvial or colluvial fan)8 wells · moderate 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 Saltspring Island. 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

6 sampled lakes lie in Saltspring Island, largest first.

1. 1St. Mary Lake (Victoria watershed)2 km²too few readings to judge
2. 2Cusheon Lake28.2 hatoo few readings to judge
3. 3Lake Maxwell26.5 hatoo few readings to judge
4. 4Lake Weston18.2 hatoo few readings to judge
5. 5Bullocks Lake10.3 hatoo few readings to judge
6. 6Lake Stowell4.6 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 Salt Spring Island Cusheon Lake station, about 2 km from Salt Spring Island (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. Its normals don't include days with snow on the ground, so that is left out. * Based on at least 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 9a (59%); 39% are in 8b, 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 990 kWh a year for each kW of panels at Salt Spring Island, 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 Salt Spring Island, climate models project about 4 more days over 30 °C a year, a longest frost-free run about 60 days longer and about 8 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 5 days over 30 °C a year in 2041-2070 (range 3 to 12 across the models), against about 1 day in 1971-2000; a longest frost-free run of about 285 days (range 260 to 330), against about 225; and about 4% of winter's precipitation falling as snow (range 2% to 6%), against about 12%. 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 Salt Spring Island: none recorded from space, and darker than about 94% 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 Salt Spring Island, a cloud-to-ground flash within 10 km on about 1 day a year and 0.01 flashes per km² a year, less 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 10 active waste discharge authorizations in Saltspring Island; the commonest kinds: sewage treatment or discharge site (5), composting site (1) and concrete plant (1). Of these, 7 may discharge 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.

On ParcelMap BC, the land in Saltspring Island is 45% private, 10% Crown land with a parcel drawn (4% with no title), 2% the local government's; no parcel is mapped over 42%, 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 Province maps 2 guide outfitter territories over nearly all of the area in Saltspring Island. The map is drawn over titled land too, but a guiding territory gives no right in wildlife and doesn't restrict anyone else's right to hunt (Wildlife Act s. 67). A report says whether one takes in a lot. Traplines and guiding territories in BC, by place.

Saltspring Island lies in wildlife management unit 1-1: 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 (Beaver Point Park, a provincial park; Burgoyne Bay Park, a provincial park; Mount Erskine Park, a provincial park; Mount Maxwell Ecological Reserve; and 4 more) reaching into Saltspring Island, over 8% of its land. Recreation Sites and Trails BC lists one site 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).