Plan is our drawing of every layer in this report on one sheet, with contours every 5 m (684–716 m above sea level) from NRCan's 30 m elevation model: the sheet that prints. Drawn from the sources in each section; lines can be metres off. Not a survey.

26 public records

What these mean

Look into: Something on or near this lot that's worth checking before you buy. Each section decides it for this lot from its own records: Winter sun, for one, only where the hills block much of the December sun.
This lot: The lot's own ground (zoning, slope, water, access, wells, septic), with nothing in the record to look into. Shown in full.
Background: Figures for the place around the lot (earthquakes, climate, services, taxes and the like) that read much the same for its neighbours. One line each; open one to read it.
Nothing found: Checked, and nothing on the record here.
Not covered: What these public records can't answer for this lot.

Each count is the sections in that group; the strip shows them in page order. Every finding names its source.

Around the lot

Nearest of each, from the lot's edge

Wateron or at the lota wetland
Public roadon or at the lotSiphon Creek Road
Wildfireon or at the lotthe 1949 fire
Farmland reserveon or at the lotALR land
Water well30 ma water-supply well on record

Nothing within 980 m: logging or crown land plan, power line, pipeline, gravel pit or quarry, military land, railway, highway or major road, airport or airstrip, floodplain map, mineral or placer title. Measured by us on the plan's lines, so expect a few metres either way. Each section has the official figures.

Look into2

Found on or near this lot, and worth checking before you buy.

§10Farmland reserve (ALR) Look into

All or part of this parcel is in the Agricultural Land Reserve.

In the ALR, farming comes first: a second home, subdividing, non-farm uses and bringing in fill are restricted and often need the Agricultural Land Commission's approval, and local zoning applies on top. Check the ALC's current rules before you plan any of these.

The recordfarmland reserve on the plan

In the ALR: Yes (all or part)

Source: Agricultural Land Reserve polygons, Agricultural Land Commission (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What the ALR means for a buyer →

Applying to the ALC to subdivide, build more or exclude land →

§07Water and streamside setbacks Look into

Mapped water on or within 30 m of the parcel: 7 unnamed streams and 6 unnamed wetlands.

Water nearby limits where you can build, clear or fill. In the regional districts covered by the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation, development within 30 m of a stream, lake or wetland needs a qualified environmental professional's assessment first; elsewhere the local bylaw sets its own setbacks, and any work in or next to a stream needs approval under the Water Sustainability Act. Ask the local government which rules apply here.

The recordwater and 30 m strip on the plan

Within 30 m: 7 unnamed streams and 6 unnamed wetlands
On the parcel: 7 unnamed streams and 5 unnamed wetlands
Fish recorded in the water by the lot: None on the Province's list for the water within 30 m
Docks and moorage on the Province's register (50 m): No moorage tenure on the Province's register within 50 m

The Freshwater Atlas is mapped at 1:20,000, so a line can be tens of metres from the real bank and small streams can be missing. A site survey sets the actual setback.

The Province's fish records come from surveys, fisheries work and permits, so they cover the waters someone sampled: a record says a fish was found somewhere in that water, not by this lot, and no record doesn't mean no fish (our reading). A qualified environmental professional decides whether the water by the lot is fish habitat. Under the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation, in the regional districts and the Islands Trust area it names, a residential, commercial or industrial development within a stream's riparian assessment area (30 m from the stream in most cases) needs a qualified environmental professional's assessment when the stream provides fish habitat to protected fish: salmon, trout, char and the other salmonids, game fish, and fish listed under the federal Species at Risk Act (ss. 1 to 3). A "stream" there includes lakes, and ditches, springs and wetlands connected to one by surface flow. Our summary, checked 2026-10-11.

The foreshore and the bed of a lake, river or the sea below the natural boundary (the visible high water mark) are almost all Crown land in BC, whoever owns the lot behind them, so a dock, boat lift or ramp on them needs the Province's authorization under the Land Act, and must leave the public's way along the foreshore open. The Province's General Permission for private moorage authorizes one dock fronting a lot without an application when the dock's owner owns or leases that lot, it's for private residential moorage only, it isn't over an archaeological site, eelgrass, a park, ecological reserve or protected area, or in an application-only area or a Land Act reserve, no other tenure covers that foreshore, and it's built within the permission's limits: floating or held above the water, no fill, dredging, cribs or solid core, no boathouse, roof, deck or shed, at least 5 m from the side lot line projected out over the water (6 m beside a public beach access or park) and 10 m from another dock, and on a lake or river no more than 42 m out with a float up to 3 m and a walkway up to 1.5 m wide (on the sea 60 m out, a 14 by 3.7 m float, and a biologist's marine habitat assessment before a new dock). Otherwise the dock needs a specific permission or a lease, applied for through FrontCounter BC. Building in or about a lake, river or stream also needs a Water Sustainability Act s. 11 notification or approval, and the local government's zoning and bylaws apply as well. Our summary of the Province's private moorage page and its General Permission (May 9, 2024), checked 2026-10-07.

A dock under the General Permission needs no application, so it isn't on the register: no tenure listed here doesn't mean there's no dock, or that a dock on the shore isn't authorized (our reading). Ask the seller how an existing dock is authorized, and FrontCounter BC (1-877-855-3222) before building or changing one.

Sources (6)

Freshwater Atlas (streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, coastline), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Known BC Fish Observations and BC Fish Distributions, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Riparian Areas Protection Regulation, B.C. Reg. 178/2019, ss. 1 to 3 (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-11); TANTALIS Crown tenures, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Land use – private moorage, Province of BC (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-07); Provincial General Permission for the Use of Crown Land for Private Moorage (Land Act), version of May 9, 2024 (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-07).

Which streamside rules apply, and where →

Docks and moorage: what the Province allows on the foreshore →

For reference17

What the records say, with nothing in them to look into.

About this lot 6

§03Buildable area For reference

About 206.2 ha (78%) of the lot is clear of steep slope and water setbacks; 22% is in or within 30 m of mapped water.

Clear 78%
Within 30 m of water 14%
Water 8%

Share of the lot's grid cells (30 m), each counted once: water first, then the 30 m strip, then steep slope.

The recordbuildable area on the plan

Clear of steep slope and water setbacks: 206.2 ha (78%)
In or within 30 m of mapped water: 22%
Steeper than 30%, outside that strip: 0%
15 to 30% slope: 0%
On designated floodplain (counted as clear): 0%
Median slope: 1%
Main slope direction: Mostly flat (slopes under 5%); measured by us on NRCan's 30 m elevation model
Which way it faces: 0% south (SE to SW), 0% north (NW to NE), 97% flat; the rest east or west
Terrain stability (Province's map): The Province's terrain stability mapping doesn't cover this lot: it was mapped from air photos, mostly on forest land, so most towns and farmland aren't on it. That says nothing either way about the ground's stability
Karst-prone rock (the Province's reconnaissance map): Not on the Province's karst map: the rock mapped under the area isn't one it rates as forming karst, at a scale of about 1:250,000

Estimated by us on Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model: each dot on the plan is one 30 m cell. Small banks, gullies and benches can be smoothed out, and on lots under a few hectares the edges count for a lot. Slopes over 30% usually need a geotechnical engineer's report to build on; 15 to 30% is buildable with more work.

Not counted: zoning setbacks from the lot lines, room for a septic field and well (the Septic section screens for a field), easements and rights of way, and the local government's own slope or hazard development permit areas. What you can build names them where the local government publishes its map. A surveyor and the local government confirm where you can build.

Sources (4)

Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model (MRDEM-30), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Freshwater Atlas and designated floodplain maps, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Terrain Stability Mapping (TSM) Detailed Polygons, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Reconnaissance Karst Potential Mapping, Province of BC (Ministry of Forests, 2002) (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

How the buildable share is measured, and what it leaves out →

Archaeological sites: protected whether recorded or not, and how to ask →

§04Floodplain For reference

Not on one of the province's designated floodplain maps.

The record

Dams nearby: None within 1 km on the Province's list of dams
Dikes nearby: None within 1 km on the Province's map of dikes and flood protection works

These maps were drawn mostly in the 1980s and 1990s and cover only some rivers and lakes. Not being on one doesn't mean the land can't flood: ask the local government whether it has newer flood mapping, and whether its bylaws set a flood construction level or floodplain setback here.

Sources (3)

Floodplain areas (designated floodplain mapping), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Flood Protection Works: Structural Works, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); BC Dams, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What a floodplain map means, and what it doesn't cover →

§05Wildfire history For reference

Wildfire has burned this parcel 2 times on record, most recently in 1950.

1938 900 m
1949 on or at the lot
1971 720 m
1979 730 m

Fire perimeters within the plan (1.8 km around), by year; tall red lines reached the lot.

The recordwildfire perimeters on the plan

Fires on the parcel: 2
Last burned on the parcel: 1950
Each fire on the parcel: 1950 (7,473 ha, caused by people); 1949 (31,520 ha, caused by people)
Fires within 2 km: 9
Within 2 km in the last 30 years: 0
Most recent nearby: 1989 (28 ha, caused by people)
Largest nearby: 1949 (31,520 ha, caused by people)
Causes on record within 2 km: 9 caused by people
Natural fire regime (the Province's ecosystem map): NDT3, frequent stand-initiating events: forest where wildfire, or on the outer coast windstorms, replaced the stand about every 100 to 150 years on average, often in large fires (BC's largest fires burn in this type)
Biogeoclimatic unit: Boreal White and Black Spruce zone, moist warm subzone (BWBSmw)
Large aspen tortrix on the lot (in trembling aspen): 2020: moderate over 3% of the lot
Bruce spanworm on the lot: 2009: light over 25% of the lot
Within 1 km, not on the lot: Large aspen tortrix in 2025 (nearest 920 m); Bruce spanworm in 2008 (nearest 540 m); aspen-poplar twig blight in 2015 (nearest 730 m); damage the survey codes ND in 2014 (nearest 420 m); mountain pine beetle in 2008 and 2009 (nearest 540 m); forest tent caterpillar in 2000 (nearest 10 m)
What the survey's classes mean: foliage damage: grey, trees killed by years of foliage damage, recorded once the outbreak has run its course; severe, most trees with more than half their foliage damaged; moderate, a third of many trees' foliage severely damaged; light, some branch tips and upper crowns damaged, barely visible from the air
Surveys read: 1999 to 2025, the Province's own; on the lot or within 1 km of its line

Fire perimeters mapped by the BC Wildfire Service since 1919, each with its size and the cause the Service recorded (lightning or people, sometimes unknown); older and small fires are less complete. Past fire is history, not a forecast: for insurance, ask about the fire protection area and the distance to the nearest fire hall.

The natural disturbance type is how the forest here burned, blew down or otherwise renewed itself before logging and fire suppression, from the Province's biogeoclimatic map and its Biodiversity Guidebook (1995). It describes the land around the lot over centuries, not the lot's own fire risk or the odds of a fire in any year; the Province's fire threat rating and fuel maps aren't open data. Our summary, checked 2026-10-11.

The Province's Aerial Overview Survey is flown each summer from small planes 500 to 1,000 m up, sketching damaged stands on maps at 1:100,000 to 1:250,000: it gives the general location and rough extent of damage, not a ground count, and the Province says it isn't accurate enough to direct work on the ground. Most of the province is flown each year, but weather and smoke leave gaps, so a year with no record isn't a year with no damage. Each year's polygons record the trees recently killed (fading or red) or the foliage damaged that season, as the surveyors read it from the air; trees killed in earlier years aren't counted again, and dead trees may since have fallen, been logged or burned. Clumps of up to about 50 dead trees are mapped as spots, which aren't shown here. Our summary of the survey's standards and damage ratings, checked 2026-10-12.

Sources (5)

Fire perimeters – historical, BC Wildfire Service (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); BEC Map (biogeoclimatic zones and natural disturbance types), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Biodiversity Guidebook, Forest Practices Code of British Columbia (1995), natural disturbance types (Our summary, checked 2026-10-11); Pest Infestation Polygons (Aerial Overview Survey), Ministry of Forests (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Forest Health Aerial Overview Survey Standards for British Columbia (2019) and the survey's damage ratings, Province of BC (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-12).

How to read a fire history →

Burning brush or slash on your property: the rules →

§08Water wells nearby For reference

5 water-supply wells on record within 2 km; typical depth 60 m, typical tested yield 32 L/min. The lot is over mapped aquifer 933 (Cecil Lake, North Peace River), fractured sedimentary rock, rated low productivity and moderate vulnerability.

The recordwater wells on the plan

Wells within 2 km: 5
Median depth: 60 m
Median tested yield: 32 L/min (2 wells tested)
Median water level below ground: 71 m
Aquifer 933 under the lot: Cecil Lake, North Peace River: fractured sedimentary rock; productivity low, vulnerability moderate, demand low; 49 wells linked, median depth 59.7 m
Groundwater level trend: No provincial observation well still measured in the aquifer under the lot or within 10 km
Groundwater quality tested nearby: No well within 10 km of the lot in the Province's monitoring records since 2000. Test your own well, for bacteria and these, at an accredited lab; your health authority can say which labs take samples from private wells.
Drinking-water protection zone: None over the lot on the Province's map (it holds only the zones a water system's protection plan has mapped, so many wells and intakes have none on it)
Water systems' wells and intakes within 300 m: None on the Province's list
Community watershed: None over the lot on the Province's map
Water licences on springs and drinking-water diversions (300 m): None within 300 m on the Province's open maps
Water use cut back for fish (temporary protection orders): No temporary protection order has covered this lot on the Province's map

Neighbours' wells show what drillers found nearby, not what a new well here will find; many wells were never registered. For a property on a well, ask for a recent flow test and water quality test.

Productivity is how much water the aquifer gives up to wells; vulnerability is how easily a spill at the surface could reach it; both are the province's ratings for the whole aquifer, not this lot. Mapped aquifers cover mostly settled valleys: a lot outside every outline can still have groundwater. Confirm with a qualified hydrogeologist or registered well driller.

Health Canada's Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality set the most a drinking water should hold: arsenic 0.010 mg/L, fluoride 1.5 mg/L, manganese 0.12 mg/L (and 0.02 mg/L for taste and for staining laundry and fixtures), uranium 0.02 mg/L, nitrate 10 mg/L as nitrogen (45 mg/L as nitrate) and lead 0.005 mg/L, with arsenic and lead kept as low as reasonably achievable. Our summary of Health Canada's summary table, read 2026-10-11.

These are the Province's open maps of licensed springs and of points where drinking water is diverted from a stream for two or more homes or a water system. Other water licences (a creek diverted for one house, irrigation, storage) are only in the Province's water rights databases, which aren't open data, so no licence listed here doesn't mean none is held on or near the lot (our reading). Ask the seller whether a water licence comes with the land, its number and what it allows, and look it up by number or by the creek's or spring's name in the Province's Water Licence Search; FrontCounter BC (1-877-855-3222) answers questions about licences.

Sources (15)

What to ask about a well before you buy →

Drilling a new well: who may drill it and what's filed →

§09Septic For reference

About 204.4 ha (77%) of the lot is at least 30 m from mapped water and recorded wells, 3 m in from the lot lines and under 25% slope, where the Province's manual allows most kinds of septic field. Whether the soil can take a field (its depth, the water table and how fast water drains) needs a site visit.

The record

Recorded water-supply wells within 30 m: 2, nearest about 30 m outside it; well tags 112781, 112779
Mapped water within 30 m: 7 unnamed streams and 6 unnamed wetlands
Within the setbacks, under 15% slope (gravity fields, mounds and trenches): 204.4 ha (77%)
Within the setbacks, under 25% slope (mounds, at-grade beds and trenches): 204.4 ha (77%)
Within the setbacks, under 45% slope (trenches): 204.4 ha (77%)

Screening, not a site assessment: measured by us on the same elevation cells as the buildable area, against the separations in the Province's Sewerage System Standard Practice Manual: a field stays 30 m from a drinking-water well (60 to 90 m from a high-pumping one), 30 m from a lake, river or permanent stream (15 m from seasonal water and the sea), 7.5 m from a downslope drain or bank where effluent could break out, and, as a guideline, 3 m from the lot line. We use 30 m for every mapped stream. A gravity field isn't allowed on slopes over 15%, a mound or at-grade bed over 25%, and trenches over 45%.

Under the Sewerage System Regulation, only an Authorized Person (a Registered Onsite Wastewater Practitioner or a professional engineer or geoscientist) may plan and install a system, and they file the plans with the regional health authority before work starts. They dig test pits to check the soil depth and the seasonal water table and measure how fast the soil drains, which no open map shows. Ask the seller for the filing and maintenance records of an existing system, and have it inspected.

Well locations in GWELLS are often approximate, and many wells were never registered: look for well caps on and next to the lot. Wells, water lines and septic fields on the neighbours' land count too.

If the lot is on a community sewer, none of this applies; ask the local government, which may also set larger setbacks or a minimum lot size for septic.

Sources (7)

Sewerage System Standard Practice Manual, version 3 (2014), Province of BC: Tables II-6, II-19 and III-16, summarised in our words, read 2026-10-04 (summarised in our words); Sewerage System Regulation, B.C. Reg. 326/2004, summarised in our words, read 2026-10-04 (summarised in our words); Groundwater wells (GWELLS), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model (MRDEM-30), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Freshwater Atlas and designated floodplain maps, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Terrain Stability Mapping (TSM) Detailed Polygons, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Reconnaissance Karst Potential Mapping, Province of BC (Ministry of Forests, 2002) (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

Septic rules in BC, and what a buyer should check →

§21Winter sun For reference

On December 21 the hills leave about 6 h 30 min of possible direct sun at the lot's middle, against 6 h 30 min on open ground at this latitude. (Our estimate from the terrain; trees and buildings not counted.)

The skyline from the middle of the lot, read by us from NRCan's elevation model every 5°, and the sun's path on December 21, March 21 and June 21: solid where the sun clears the hills, dotted where they hide it. Angles are drawn true to scale.

The record

December 21 (shortest day): 6 h 30 min of possible direct sun; 6 h 30 min on open ground
March 21 (about the same on September 21): 12 h; 12 h on open ground
June 21 (longest day): 17 h 20 min; 17 h 30 min on open ground
Noon sun on December 21: 10° above level; the hills due south rise to 0°
Highest hills in the winter sun's path: 1° above level to the south-east, 0.4 km away
Measured at: The middle of the lot, ground at about 700 m, from head height
Solar panel output (south-facing, tilted at the latitude): About 970 kWh a year for each kW of panels (December about 30), on Natural Resources Canada's 1998-2022 sunshine map; the sun on the panel's face is 3.54 kWh/m² a day over the year, 1.30 in December
Water the ground lets you see (16 km): None on the Freshwater Atlas or the sea, over the bare ground
Highest skyline: 1° above level to the west-southwest, 3.2 km away
Named peaks in view (150 km): None of BC Geographical Names' summits within 150 km clears the ground before it
Highest ground in view: About 808 m, to the west, 28 km away
Farthest ground in view: About 36 km to the north-northwest
Most relief in one direction: To the west-northwest: from about 649 m, 12 km away, up to about 786 m, 27 km away
Town centres in line of sight: None within 150 km, over the bare ground
City lights in direct line (150 km): None over the bare ground: the lit towns within 150 km are behind the hills or the curve of the earth (our reading)

Computed by us from the terrain only: trees, buildings and cloud aren't counted, so the sun that reaches a window or a garden is often less. The hours are possible direct sun, counted from when the sun's centre clears the hills, at head height at the middle of the lot; another spot on a hillside lot can differ.

The horizon is read from Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model in 72 directions, out to 16 km: on its 30 m grid within 1.5 km, beyond that on a 120 m version of it, where single peaks can read a little lower than they are. The curve of the earth is taken into account.

The sun's path is from the standard solar position formulas. Hours are counted in sun time; clock times shift with daylight saving and with how far the lot is from its time zone's centre.

Check it on site: visit on a clear day in December or January, look at where the trees and buildings to the south fall, and ask neighbours when the sun leaves and comes back.

The panel output is our reading of Natural Resources Canada's figures: its map gives the sun reaching a south-facing panel tilted at the latitude, averaged over 1998-2022 on a grid of about 10 km, and we turn it into kWh for each kW of panels at the performance ratio its Photovoltaic Potential maps use (0.75: losses in heat, wiring, the inverter and dirt). The map is for an open sky: the hills around the lot, trees, buildings and snow on the panels aren't counted. A solar installer measures the roof or the spot itself.

What the ground allows you to see from head height at the middle of the lot, read by us on the same elevation model as the sun hours, out to 16 km: trees, buildings and the house's own spot and height aren't counted, so a view the ground allows can be hidden by the forest, and a second storey can see over a rise. Lakes and rivers are the Freshwater Atlas's; the sea is read where the elevation model sits at sea level.

Peaks, towns and the farthest ground are read by us out to 150 km on the same elevation model, coarser past 16 km (cells of 240 m to 60 km, 480 m beyond), with the curve of the earth and the usual bending of light: summits read lower than they are at that scale, so a peak only counts when it clears the ground before it, and one at the very edge of the skyline may be left out. It's what the bare ground allows on a perfectly clear day: haze, smoke, cloud, trees and buildings aren't counted. Peak names are BC Geographical Names'; peaks outside BC aren't named.

City lights in direct line are our reading: the satellite's lit cells (15 nW/cm²/sr and up, the brightness of a town centre or more) within 150 km, each named after the nearest town centre within 8 km, and a town counted when one of its brightest cells, taken 10 m above the ground, clears the bare ground before it on the same elevation model as the long view. It says where lights are in a straight line, not how bright they look: the glow a town throws over a ridge isn't modelled, so a town behind the hills can still light the sky above them, and haze, trees and buildings aren't counted.

Sources (6)

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); Freshwater Atlas lakes and rivers, Province of BC (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).

Winter sun: how the hills around a lot are read, and what the hours leave out →

Solar panels: what the yearly figure means, and what tilt and the hills change →

Background for this place 11

§06Evacuation orders and alerts For reference

An evacuation alert covered this lot in May 2023 (Stoddart Creek Wildfire, Peace River Regional District); no order since April 2017.

The record

Events with an order over the lot since April 2017: 0
Events with only an alert: 1
May 2023: Stoddart Creek Wildfire: Evacuation alert for a wildfire, issued by Peace River Regional District (“Stoddart Creek Wildfire Electoral Area B & C”); alert 15 May 2023, all clear 17 May 2023.

The Province's record of lifted orders and alerts starts in April 2017: evacuations before then aren't in it, and no record doesn't mean nothing happened. Each area is drawn by the local government or First Nation that issued it; we check whether it covers any part of the lot. Where the record's own dates disagree (an order dated before the event began), only the month and year are given. Confirm with the local government.

An alert asks people to be ready to leave; no order to leave covered this lot in the record.

Sources: Historical Orders and Alerts, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Evacuation Orders and Alerts, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What an evacuation order or alert on the record means →

§15Earthquake shaking For reference

The building code's design shaking here is 0.10 g peak ground acceleration on firm ground, about 20% of Vancouver's. An M4.5 earthquake was recorded about 40 km away in November 2018.

Ground	Peak acceleration	Sa(0.2), low buildings
Firm ground (C)	0.10 g	0.20 g
Stiff soil (D)	0.14 g	0.24 g
Soft soil (E)	0.16 g	0.27 g

The 2020 building code's design shaking at the lot's centre, 2% in 50 years, by site class. Which class the lot's ground is comes from the building official or a geotechnical engineer.

The record

Peak ground acceleration, 2% in 50 years (the code's design level): 0.10 g
Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years: 0.029 g
Short-period shaking Sa(0.2), the value the code uses for houses and other low buildings: 0.20 g
Peak ground acceleration, 2% in 50 years, on softer ground: 0.14 g on stiff soil (site class D), 0.16 g on soft soil, about 50% more than on firm ground
The same value in city centres: Victoria 0.81 g, Vancouver 0.47 g, Kelowna 0.089 g, Prince George 0.064 g
Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more recorded since 1985: 107 within 50 km and 437 within 100 km (175 of those labelled industry-related or suspected industry-related)
Largest within 100 km: M5.4 in April 2001, about 70 km away (NRCan: 40 km ENE of Dawson Creek, BC)
Nearest of magnitude 3 or more: M3.7 in December 2004, about 15 km away (NRCan: 17 km NE of Fort St. John, BC)
Tsunami: More than 2 km from the ocean shore, so the Province's tsunami notification zones, which are for the coast, don't bear on it

These are the 2020 National Building Code's reference values at the lot's centre, on firm ground (site class C), with the values the code gives stiff soil (D) and soft soil (E) beside them. Which class the lot's ground is isn't on any open map: the site class and the values a building is designed for come from the building official or a geotechnical engineer. Very soft ground, peat or fill that can liquefy (site class F) needs a site-specific assessment.

2% in 50 years means shaking at least this strong has about a 1-in-2,500 chance in any year; 10% in 50 years, about 1 in 475. g is the acceleration of gravity. The comparison with Vancouver and the other cities is ours.

Liquefaction and earthquake-triggered landslides aren't covered here; ask the local government whether it has mapped them.

Past earthquakes are those Natural Resources Canada's National Earthquake Database records within 100 km of the lot's middle since 1985, the start of its digital record, at magnitude 2.5 and up; blasts, mining events (tremors set off in a mine) and slides are left out. The seismograph network has grown much denser since then, so smaller quakes found today would have gone unrecorded in the 1980s, and positions are good to a few kilometres. A count of past quakes isn't a measure of the hazard: the building code's values above are.

Since 2019 Natural Resources Canada labels quakes it finds or suspects were set off by industry, such as gas well fracturing or wastewater disposal in the northeast; earlier ones carry no label, so the labelled count starts in 2019.

Sources (3)

2020 National Building Code of Canada seismic hazard values (CanadaSHM6), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); National Earthquake Database, Earthquakes Canada, Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Freshwater Atlas coastline, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What the building code's shaking values mean →

§16Landslide records For reference

2 landslides on record within 5 km; the nearest, an earth slide, is 3.8 km from the lot.

The record

On record on the lot or within 100 m: 0
On record within 1 km: 0
On record within 5 km: 2
Nearest: 3.8 km from the lot: an earth slide, date not recorded
Kinds within 5 km: earth slide 2
With a date: none of the 2

This is a list of landslides that are known to have happened, gathered from published inventories and from mapping on satellite images and lidar. It isn't a hazard map: it doesn't say how likely a slide is here, and no record nearby doesn't mean the ground is stable. Some parts of BC (the Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon, Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, recent burn areas) are mapped in far more detail than others.

Each point mostly marks where a slide started. Debris can travel well past it, down a creek channel and onto the fan at the creek's mouth, so a lot on a fan or below a steep slope can be reached by a slide that began kilometres away. Distances are measured by us from the lot's boundary.

The kind of slide and its date are the database's own, mostly worked out from images, so treat them as a first look. Confirm with the local government, many of which have mapped steep-slope or debris-flow hazard areas, and with a geotechnical engineer.

Source: Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database, version 14.0 (May 2026), Brideau et al. (CC BY 4.0).

What a landslide record means, and what it doesn't →

§17Federal contaminated sites For reference

No federal contaminated sites listed within 2 km. This inventory covers federal land only; see below for what that leaves out.

The record

Federal sites within 2 km: 0

This inventory lists only contaminated sites on federal land or that the federal government is responsible for: military land, ports and harbours, airports, fisheries and research stations, reserve land, national parks and similar. Most contaminated sites in BC, such as old gas stations, dry cleaners and industrial land, are on the Province's Site Registry, which charges for searches and isn't shown here. Ask the seller what the land and its neighbours were used for; a Phase I environmental site assessment covers it properly.

Each site is one point given by its federal custodian, and a large site such as a base or an airport reaches well past it. Distances are measured by us from the lot's boundary to that point.

Confirm with the local government and a qualified environmental professional.

Source: Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (reported for 2025-2026) (Open Government Licence – Canada).

What a contaminated site record means, and what it leaves out →

Old heating oil tanks: finding one, removing it, and who pays for a leak →

§19Services nearby For reference

Fort St. John Hospital is the nearest hospital, 25 km away in a straight line; the nearest fire station is Fort St John Fire Department, 28 km; the nearest grocery store 27 km and public elementary school 25 km.

The record

Nearest hospital: Fort St. John Hospital, Fort St John: 25 km
Next nearest hospital: Dawson Creek and District Hospital: 78 km
Nearest emergency department: Fort St. John Hospital, Fort St John: 25 km. Hours on HealthLink BC's list: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Nearest walk-in clinic: North Peace Primary Care Clinic, Fort St John: 28 km. Hours on HealthLink BC's list: Fri 08:30 to 16:00. Note that hours are subject to physician availability and patient volume. Closed statutory holidays, and for lunch 12:00 - 13:00
Nearest pharmacy: Walmart Canada, Fort St John: 26 km. Hours on HealthLink BC's list: Mon to Fri 09:00 to 20:00, Sat and Sun 09:00 to 17:00
Nearest late-night or 24-hour pharmacy: Shoppers Drug Mart, Fort St John: 27 km. Hours on HealthLink BC's list: Mon to Sun 08:00 to 22:00
School catchment: Not mapped for this lot: catchments are shown only where the school district's boundaries are open data, for Surrey Schools (Surrey and White Rock) and the North Vancouver School District (the City and District of North Vancouver). Ask the school district which schools serve it.
Nearest public elementary school: Upper Pine Elem-Jr Secondary, Fort St John: 25 km
Nearest public secondary school: Upper Pine Elem-Jr Secondary, Fort St John: 25 km
Nearest public school with early French immersion: North Peace Secondary, Fort St John: 27 km
Nearest francophone school (Conseil scolaire francophone): Secondaire Duchess-Park, Prince George: 313 km
Independent schools within 10 km: 0
Nearest licensed group child care: None within 2 km on the Province's list; the nearest is 26 km away
Licensed family child care within about 2 km: None on the Province's list
Nearest grocery store: Save-On-Foods: 27 km
Grocery stores within 10 km: 0
Nearest fire station: Fort St John Fire Department: 28 km, on the Province's list
Nearest ambulance station: Ambulance station 860, Fort St. John: 27 km
Nearest police detachment or station: Fort St John RCMP, Fort St. John: 27 km
Nearest transfer station or landfill: Cecil Lake Transfer Station: 11 km
Nearest post office: Cecil Lake: 14 km
Postal area: V0C: Canada Post marks it a rural postal area (a 0 as the second character): mail mostly goes to a post office box or a rural route box, not to the door, and couriers often add a charge for rural postal codes (our reading).
Nearest gas station: Co-op Cardlock: 26 km
Nearest Service BC office: Service BC - Fort St. John: 27 km
Nearest airport with screened airline flights: Fort St. John airport (YXJ): 24 km
Vancouver International Airport (YVR), BC's main airport for flights abroad: 824 km
Nearest transit stop: None within 25 km on BC Transit's or TransLink's schedules
Nearest park or protected area: Cecil Lake Ecological Reserve: 1.6 km from the lot line
Nearest recreation site or trail: None within 25 km on the Province's list

Distances are straight lines from the middle of the lot, measured by us. The drive is longer, and much longer where the road winds, crosses water or takes a ferry.

Hospitals are from the Province's list; emergency departments and walk-in clinics from HealthLink BC's lists, with the hours they give. Not every hospital has a 24-hour emergency department, and a small town's emergency department can close for a shift when it's short of staff: the health authority posts these as service changes, so check before you rely on one. In an emergency, call 9-1-1.

Which school a child goes to depends on the school district's catchment, not on distance: ask the district.

French programs are from the Ministry's school list. French immersion usually takes students by application or lottery, often with its own boundary, and the Conseil scolaire francophone's schools are for children whose parents have the right to French-language education: ask the district which applies.

Child care is from the Province's Child Care Map Data, listed October 13, 2026: licensed facilities the Province funds, so a licensed one without that funding, or a licence-not-required carer, isn't on it. The ages served and any space are what each operator reports, and many list no ages. A space reported weeks ago may be gone: ask the facility about spaces and wait lists.

The fee reduction is the Province's Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (CCFRI): a facility taking part charges lower monthly fees for children up to kindergarten age (our summary).

Licensed family child care is in the provider's own home, so we count it but don't name or place it. It's counted on a grid of about 1 km, so the count near 2 km is approximate (our reading).

A fire station nearby doesn't mean it covers this lot: confirm the fire protection area with the local government. Insurers price fire cover by the road distance to the hall that responds and whether the lot is inside a fire protection area.

Fire halls, ambulance stations and police are from the Province's First Responders list (updated 2026-09-11), with fire stations it lacks added from OpenStreetMap. A hall that has moved may still be listed at its old address.

An ambulance station is where crews are based. How soon one arrives depends on where the crew is when the call comes.

A detachment is where police are based; it isn't always the force that covers the lot, and a community policing office is often volunteer-run with no officers on hand. Ask the local government which police serve the lot. In an emergency, call 9-1-1.

Pharmacies are from HealthLink BC's list, with the hours it gives: a few pharmacies are in clinics or programs for their own patients, and hours change, so call ahead.

Transit stops and departures are counted by us from BC Transit's and TransLink's published schedules for one week, leaving out the stop where a trip ends. A stop's distance is a straight line from the middle of the lot; the walk is longer. Service changes with the seasons: check the timetable before you count on a route.

Parks and recreation sites are measured in a straight line from the lot line. Conservancies, regional and municipal parks aren't on these lists. Recreation Sites and Trails BC's list doesn't say whether a site is open, closed or reachable this season: check its page before you go.

Many rural lots have no garbage pickup: households take it to the regional district's transfer station or landfill. Ask the regional district about pickup, the site's hours and fees, and whether it takes what you'd bring. Rural mail is often a box at the post office, not delivered to the door: ask Canada Post.

Grocery stores, transfer stations, landfills, recycling depots, post offices, gas stations are from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers: one may be missing, closed or mapped in the wrong place, and a landfill may be closed without the map saying so (our reading).

The postal area is Statistics Canada's outline of where a postal code's first three characters are used, drawn from postal code points, so near its edge the lot may fall in the next one. It doesn't say how this lot's mail is delivered: ask Canada Post, and give a courier or online store the full postal code to see what they charge.

Airports with screened airline flights are the ones the CATSA Aerodrome Designation Regulations list, where the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority screens passengers, kept where OurAirports also lists scheduled flights (Dawson Creek is designated but has none listed). Smaller airports and floatplane bases with scheduled flights aren't screened and aren't on this list, so a nearer one may have flights: check with the airlines. Distances are straight lines; the drive, or a ferry, is longer.

Confirm services with the local government.

Sources (16)

How school catchments work in BC →

Home insurance: what an insurer asks about the hall, the hydrant, the stove and the wiring →

Transit: what the schedules count, and what they leave out →

Child care: what the Province's list counts, and the fee programs →

Parks next door: what a park beside a lot means →

§20Internet For reference

ISED's broadband data has homes or roads within about 1 km of the lot but no wired or fixed wireless service recorded at any of them; satellite is likely the option. LTE mobile coverage is recorded there too.

<5/15/110/225/550/10+ WiredFixed wireless

Best band recorded within about 1 km, Mbps down/up. 50/10 is ISED's top band and the CRTC's target for every home. LTE mobile: recorded.

The sky from the middle of the lot, north up: the zenith in the middle, the horizon at the rim, the hills shaded as NRCan's elevation model shows them. The line is the arc of TV satellites: solid where it clears the hills, dotted where they hide it; Bell's and Shaw Direct's satellites are dots, hollow when hidden. Starlink asks for a clear sky from the dashed 20° ring up; hills inside it are shaded darker. Trees and buildings aren't counted.

The record

Best speed recorded within about 1 km: none
Over a wired line (cable, fibre or DSL): none recorded
Over fixed wireless: none recorded
LTE mobile within about 1 km: recorded
Nearest place with 50/10 Mbps or faster: about 8.3 km away
Data: ISED National Broadband Data, May 2026
Mobile carriers listed in the area around the lot (about 25 km²): Bell and Telus (one shared network), Rogers (ISED, reported, not a guarantee at the lot)
Nearest FM radio transmitter: VF2112, 96.1 MHz low-power FM, 8 W, at Doig River, about 16 km to the north; hills about 1.2 km away rise to 0.2° in its direction, above the line to the antenna: likely blocked by the bare ground (our reading)
Nearest TV transmitter: CJDC-TV-1, TV channel 9, 660 W, at Fort St John, about 35 km to the west-south-west; hills about 3.1 km away rise to 0.9° in its direction, above the line to the antenna: likely blocked by the bare ground (our reading)
Bell satellite TV dish sightline: 82° W sits 17° up to the south-east, clear of the hills by 17°; 91.1° W sits 21° up to the south-east, clear of the hills by 20° (terrain only; our reading)
Shaw Direct satellite TV dish sightline: 107.3° W sits 25° up to the south-south-east, clear of the hills by 24°; 111.1° W sits 25° up to the south, clear of the hills by 25° (terrain only; our reading)
Starlink: sky hidden by the hills: The hills stay under 20° all round, so terrain shouldn't block it (trees and buildings not counted; our reading)

This is the service providers report to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) for homes and roads near the lot, not a quote: ask providers whether they serve this address, at what speed and at what cost to connect.

Speeds are download/upload bands. 50/10 Mbps is ISED's top band, so a place in it can get much faster service, and it is the CRTC's target for every Canadian home.

A line that reaches homes within 1 km may stop short of this lot; bringing it further can cost the buyer. Fixed wireless and LTE need a clear line to the tower, which hills and tall trees can block.

Satellite service doesn't need nearby lines, but it needs a clear view of the sky.

Distances are straight lines from the middle of the lot, measured by us on a grid of about 250 m.

Mobile carriers are those Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) lists for mobile service in its hexagon of about 25 km² holding the lot's middle; ISED counts LTE and 5G together and doesn't say how much of the hexagon a carrier covers, so a listed carrier may not reach the lot, the house or the valley floor. Cell tower positions aren't open data. Ask the carriers, or try a phone on site.

Broadcast transmitters are from ISED's Spectrum Management System extract: the nearest FM and TV transmitters in operation within 50 km of the lot's middle, with their effective radiated power. Whether the bare ground blocks the line is our reading on the elevation model the Winter sun section reads (out to 16 km round the lot; hills beyond it aren't counted); trees, buildings and an antenna's height on the house aren't, and reception also depends on power, distance and the receiver.

Satellite sightlines are our reading: each geostationary satellite's place in the sky from the lot's middle (Telesat's orbital slots, read 2026-10-13) set against the skyline the Winter sun section reads on NRCan's elevation model, in 72 directions out to 16 km. Trees and buildings, which most often decide whether a dish sees its satellite, aren't counted, and a dish can sit higher or elsewhere on the lot. Starlink asks for a clear view of the sky from about 20° above the horizon and picks its own direction: its app's obstruction check on site is the real test.

Sources (6)

National Broadband Data (May 2026), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Pseudo-Household Demographic Distribution (2021), ISED (Open Government Licence – Canada); National Broadband Data, mobile providers by hexagon (2026-05-05), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Spectrum Management System Authorization Data Extract: Broadcast Service (2026-10-05), ISED (Open Government Licence – Canada); Geostationary fleet and orbital slots, Telesat (facts from the page, read 2026-10-13); Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model (MRDEM-30), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada).

What the internet figures mean, and what to ask a provider →

§22Soil for farming For reference

Mapped mostly as Class 4 of 7 for farming: severe limits; few crops, or a high risk of crop failure. Main limits: dense or slow-draining soil.

The record

Capability class (1 best, 7 none): Class 4: about 55% of the lot; Class 3: about 25% of the lot; Class 5 (organic soil): about 20% of the lot
What limits it: dense or slow-draining soil
Map scale: 1:50,000: describes the area, not the field
Mapped: 1960s to 1990s (digitised 2015)

These classes rate how well the land suits ordinary field crops, from the soil and climate as surveyed decades ago. Drainage, irrigation or fill since then can change the real answer, and a map at this scale can miss a good or poor field. The Agricultural Land Commission weighs these classes when it decides applications.

If farming matters to you here, a professional agrologist (P.Ag.) can assess the soil on site.

Source: Agriculture Capability mapping, Province of BC (1960s to 1990s maps, digitised 2015) (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What the soil capability classes mean, and what they leave out →

§23Climate For reference

At Fort St John Airport, 24 km from the lot, January averages −12.7 °C and July 16.3 °C, with 206 cm of snow and 464 mm of rain and snow a year (1991-2020 normals, based on fewer years than the WMO standard). The frost-free season averages 127 days, from May 12 to September 16. The lot is at about the same elevation as the station. At the Fort St John Key Learning Centre station, 28 km away, fine particles passed the level of BC's air objective on a median of 9 days a year (2015 to 2025).

The record

Nearest climate station: Fort St John Airport, 24 km away
Station elevation: 695 m
Lot elevation (estimated, middle of the lot): 700 m
January mean temperature (1991-2020): −12.7 °C*
July mean temperature (1991-2020): 16.3 °C*
Yearly precipitation, rain and snow as water (1991-2020): 464 mm*
Yearly snowfall (1991-2020): 206 cm*
Frost-free period (1991-2020): 127 days a year*
Average last spring frost (1991-2020): May 12*
Average first fall frost (1991-2020): September 16*
Days with snow on the ground, 1 cm or more (1991-2020): 152 days a year, 29 days of them in January*
Lowest temperature recorded, 1991-2020: −44.6 °C (1992)
Days a year over 30 °C (1991-2020): 1.1 days, no days of them over 35 °C*
Highest temperature recorded, 1991-2020: 33.5 °C (2006)
Wettest day recorded, 1991-2020: 57.4 mm of rain and melted snow, June 22, 1993
Most snow in a day recorded, 1991-2020: 29 cm, November 17, 2011
Deepest snow on the ground recorded, 1991-2020: 97 cm, March 17, 1997
Strongest gust recorded, 1991-2020: 107 km/h, January 30, 1993; gusts of 90 km/h or more on 0.7 days a year*
Thunderstorm days a year (1991-2020): 13 days; hail on 0.9 days
Heating degree days, below 18 °C (1991-2020): 5,736 a year*
Growing degree days, above 5 °C (1991-2020): 1,352 a year; 602 above 10 °C*
Period: 1991-2020
Plant hardiness zone (regional): 3a
By the 2050s, days a year over 30 °C (model projection, SSP2-4.5): About 4 more days over 30 °C a year than in the same models' 1971-2000
By the 2050s, longest frost-free run (model projection, SSP2-4.5): A longest frost-free run about 25 days longer than in the same models' 1971-2000
By the 2050s, winter precipitation falling as snow (model projection, SSP2-4.5): About 2 percentage points less of winter's precipitation falling as snow than in the same models' 1971-2000
Days with fine particles over BC's air objective level: A median of 9 days a year at the Fort St John Key Learning Centre station, 28 km away (2015 to 2025); the most was 60 days in 2023
Lightning near the lot (1998-2025 average): A cloud-to-ground flash within 10 km on about 9 days a year; 0.34 flashes per km² a year, more than at 3 in 4 BC homes

Normals are 30-year averages at the station, not readings for this lot. In BC's mountains a few hundred metres of elevation, a north-facing slope or a lakeshore can change winters a lot: a hillside lot can be much colder and snowier than a valley station.

The lot's elevation is our estimate from Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model at the middle of the lot.

The hardiness zone is from Natural Resources Canada's 2025 map, read by us on a grid of about 2 to 3 km: near a zone's edge, or well above or below the valley around it, the lot may fall in the next zone. It is a guide to which plants survive the winter, not a frost date.

* Based on fewer years than the WMO standard: these figures rest on at least 25, 20 or 15 of the 30 years, short of the World Meteorological Organization's standard of nearly all of them. ECCC publishes them as normals; treat them 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.

A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below or above a base, added up over the year. Heating degree days below 18 °C follow how much a home needs heating: a place with 5,000 needs roughly half again the heat of one with 3,300, for the same house. Growing degree days above 5 °C (10 °C for warm-season crops such as corn and grapes) follow how much warmth plants get to grow.

Model projections, not predictions of the weather: the median of 26 climate models downscaled by Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (CanDCS-M6), for 2041-2070 under SSP2-4.5, a middle path for emissions. Each is given as the change from the same models' 1971-2000, not against a station's normals: in the mountains the models' figures can sit well off a valley station's, and the change between the two periods says more than either number. The frost-free run is the longest stretch of days with the low at or above 0 °C. The share of winter's precipitation falling as snow is our reading: each model's December to February snowfall over its precipitation, then the median across the models.

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. The models' own figures here, for setting against each other only: about 5 days over 30 °C a year in 2041-2070 (range 3 to 13 across the models), against about 1 in 1971-2000; a longest frost-free run of about 140 days (range 130 to 150), against about 115; and about 96% of winter's precipitation falling as snow (range 94% to 98%), against about 98%. The range runs from the 10th to the 90th percentile of the models' 2041-2070 figure; it isn't a range of the change.

Frost dates are averages: in about half of years the last spring frost comes later than the date shown, and frost pockets in hollows and valley bottoms get it later still.

At the Fort St John Key Learning Centre station, 28 km away, fine particles passed the level of BC's 24-hour objective (25 µg/m³) on a median of 9 days a year over the 9 years with a full record, 2015 to 2025; the most was 60 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).

The days are counted by us from the Province's verified hourly readings: a day counts when the station has 18 or more valid hours and their mean is over 25 µg/m³, the level of BC's Ambient Air Quality Objective for fine particles over 24 hours (the Province judges the objective itself on a year's 98th percentile of daily averages, not on single days), and a year counts when the station ran most of it, July to September included. They are the station's days, not this lot's: smoke drifts unevenly, and a lot up a valley or across a lake from the station can be clearer or smokier.

BC's air quality advisories and the Air Quality Health Index say what the air is like now; a HEPA filter and a home with a ventilation system that can recirculate help on smoky days.

Lightning is the Canadian Lightning Detection Network's cloud-to-ground flashes, averaged over 1998-2025, on Environment and Climate Change Canada's grid of 0.1 degrees (about 11 km north to south and 7 km east to west in BC): it is the area's lightning, not the lot's. A day counts when a flash fell in a grid cell whose middle is within 10 km of the middle of the lot's cell, by the Pacific standard time day (our reading); flashes per km² are for the lot's own cell. Set among BC's homes by Statistics Canada's 2021 dwellings on ISED's points. Lightning starts fires and can damage a well pump, panels or wiring on high open ground; ask an electrician about surge protection.

Recent years have run warmer than the 1991-2020 averages in much of BC. Ask neighbours or the local government about snow on the road and who clears it.

Sources (7)

Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020, Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model (MRDEM-30), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Plant hardiness zones of Canada (2025 map), 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); Canadian Lightning Detection Network cloud-to-ground flashes (CanCPLDv1), Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Peace River, Electoral Area B: climate, land and census facts (PlaceDossier area page).

What a plant hardiness zone means →

Climate projections for the 2050s: what the models say, and what they can't →

Wood stoves and wood heat: the Province's rules, local bylaws and winter air →

§24Radon For reference

Radon isn't mapped lot by lot. In the Northeast health region, 20 of the 200 homes tested (10%) 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 record

Health region (regional figure, not this lot): Northeast
Homes tested here: 200
At or above 200 Bq/m³ (the guideline): 20 (10%)
At or above 600 Bq/m³: 1
Across BC: 143 of 1,817 homes (7.9%) at or above the guideline

Radon comes up from the ground and differs from one house to the next, even next door, so a regional figure says nothing certain about one home. The only way to know is a long-term test of at least 3 months. Health Canada's guideline is 200 Bq/m³ in the parts of a home where people spend more than 4 hours a day; above it, fix it within a year, and the higher the level, the sooner. For a home you buy, Health Canada suggests a long-term test once you've moved in.

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 survey grouped homes by the 2007 health regions; we place the lot by today's boundaries for the same areas.

Sources (5)

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); Radon guideline, Health Canada (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-02); Testing your home for radon, Health Canada (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-02); Radon in real estate, Health Canada (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-02).

Radon and buying a home in BC →

§25Property tax For reference

This lot is in Peace River, Electoral Area B, where the Province collects the property tax. Every home there pays at least $4.38 per $1,000 of assessed value at 2026 rates: about $4,377 a year on a $1,000,000 home, before the home owner grant. Local service areas such as fire protection add more where they cover the lot, so its full rate is unclear here; the tax notice lists them.

Regional district (the electoral area's share) $0.22
Regional hospital district $1.28
School (set by the Province) $2.33
Provincial rural tax $0.39
Police tax $0.12
Other $0.04

Where each $1,000 of assessed value goes, 2026, before local service areas.

Price or assessed value$

On $500,000: at least about $2,188 a year; on $1,000,000: at least about $4,377, at 2026 rates, before the home owner grant.

The record

Collected by: The Province (rural area), for Peace River, Electoral Area B
Rate every home pays, 2026: 4.37687 per $1,000
Regional district (the electoral area's share): 0.22054 per $1,000
Regional hospital district: 1.28363 per $1,000
School (set by the Province): 2.3254 per $1,000
Provincial rural tax: 0.3861 per $1,000
Police tax: 0.1229 per $1,000
Other: 0.0383 per $1,000
On buildings only: 0.11207 per $1,000 of the buildings' value
Local service areas: Unclear for this lot: they cover parts of the area, up to 1.25136 per $1,000 each
Full rate for this lot: Unclear

The Province's rural rates don't say which local service areas (fire protection, recreation, street lighting, water, improvement districts, the Islands Trust) cover which lots, so they're left out of the rate above. Ask the Province's Surveyor of Taxes, or the seller for the latest tax notice.

Your bill uses BC Assessment's value for the property, which can differ from its price, and may also include parcel taxes and utility fees (water, sewer, garbage) that aren't rates on value.

The home owner grant takes up to $570 off the bill of a home its owner lives in ($770 in the Province's northern and rural area in 2026, and up to $845, or $1,045 there, for seniors, veterans and people with a disability), for homes assessed at $2,075,000 or less in 2026; above that it shrinks by $5 for each $1,000. From 2027 the northern and rural extra ends and the regular grant is $570 everywhere. The owner applies each year, and must pay at least $350 in tax ($100 for the higher grant) after it.

Sources: The Surveyor of Taxes' rural tax rates, 2026, Province of BC (the rates only: facts set in public bylaws, not open data); Home owner grant, Province of BC (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-04).

How property tax works in BC, and what else goes on the bill →

The home owner grant: who gets it, how much, and applying each year →

Property transfer tax: what you pay when you buy, and the exemptions →

§27Crime For reference

Inferred, the nearest RCMP rural detachment Statistics Canada publishes (about 27 km away in a straight line; the one that polices this spot may be another): the Fort St John RCMP detachment (rural) reported a crime severity index of 76 in 2025, below BC's 92; up 19% since 2015 (BC unchanged).

Fort St John 76
BC 92

Crime severity index by year, 2011 to 2025, police-reported (Canada in 2006 = 100).

The record

Police service: The Fort St John RCMP detachment (rural; inferred)
Crime severity index, 2025: 76 (BC 92)
Violent / non-violent index: 75 / 77 (BC 98 / 91)
Crime severity index, 2015: 64 (BC 93)
Break and enter, per 100,000 people, 2025: 453 (BC 281)
Theft of a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025: 475 (BC 138)
Theft from a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025: 173 (BC 441)
Violent crime, per 100,000 people, 2025: 1,266 (BC 1,531)
All Criminal Code offences (not traffic), per 100,000 people, 2025: 4,142 (BC 6,943)

Inferred: the nearest RCMP rural detachment Statistics Canada publishes figures for, about 27 km away. BC's police boundaries aren't open data, so the detachment that actually polices this spot may be another.

The crime severity index weighs each offence by how serious it is (one assault counts for more than several thefts), with Canada in 2006 set at 100. Rates are per 100,000 people living in the police service's area, so places with many visitors, commuters or seasonal homes read high, and in small places a few incidents swing the figures a lot. These are crimes reported to police, not all crime.

In BC only Surrey, the Township of Langley, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam publish reported property crime block by block under an open licence; reports there count what was reported within 500 m of the lot. The police here don't, so the figures above are for the whole area they cover.

Police calls to a particular address aren't published in BC (privacy law keeps police records about identifiable people closed), and neither is whether a home was used as a grow-op or drug lab: where a council acted on one, its order or a note on the title can show it. Ask the seller for the Property Disclosure Statement, and your lawyer for the title search.

Sources: Statistics Canada, Table 35-10-0063-01, Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services in British Columbia (Statistics Canada Open Licence); Statistics Canada, Table 35-10-0184-01, Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, police services in British Columbia (Statistics Canada Open Licence).

What police-reported crime figures say about a place, and what isn't public →

Was this house a grow op? What the records show, and what the seller must say →

Nothing found6

Checked, and nothing on the record here.

§01Road access Nothing found

A mapped public road runs along or through the parcel: Siphon Creek Road (main road, unpaved), Road 254V (local road, unpaved) and Shoaf Avenue (local road, unpaved). Siphon Creek Road, Shoaf Avenue and 254 Road (Wall Road) are provincial roads the Ministry of Transportation's contractor maintains, snow clearing included.

The recordroads on the plan

Roads along the parcel: Siphon Creek Road (main road, unpaved); Road 254V (local road, unpaved); Shoaf Avenue (local road, unpaved)
Nearest public road: Along the parcel
Who maintains the road: Siphon Creek Road, Shoaf Avenue and 254 Road (Wall Road) are on the Ministry of Transportation's road inventory: provincial roads that its maintenance contractor for service area 22 (Peace district) maintains, snow clearing included. How soon a road is cleared after a storm depends on the winter class the Ministry gives it; its district office can say which. Other roads along the lot, if any, aren't on the inventory.
Forest Service and permit roads (100 m): None within 100 m on the Ministry of Forests' road tenure map.

Worked out by us from OpenStreetMap road lines: a road whose centreline is within 25 m of the lot line is counted as running along it. The map isn't proof of legal access: a road can be private, unbuilt or not maintained in winter, and reaching a lot across someone else's land needs a registered easement. The title search and the local government (or the Ministry of Transportation outside towns) confirm both.

Sources (3)

OpenStreetMap road data as of 2026-10-13, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); Ministry of Transportation Road Features Inventory and District Boundaries, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Forest Tenure Road Segment Lines, Ministry of Forests (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

What a road on the map does and doesn't prove →

Driveway permits: the Ministry's, the council's, or none →

§11Mineral and placer titles Nothing found

No mineral or placer titles on or within 1 km of the parcel. A mineral reserve over all or part of the lot stops new mineral, placer and coal titles being registered there (set for First Nations' interests).

The record

Over the parcel: None
Within 1 km: None
Mineral reserve over the lot: A no registration reserve (for First Nations' interests, since 2021): no new mineral, placer and coal titles can be registered

Titles change often; this is the record when checked. Mineral Titles Online shows the current map.

A mineral reserve is set by regulation of the chief gold commissioner (Mineral Tenure Act s. 22). A no registration reserve stops new titles of the kinds it names being registered on that land; a conditional one allows them only on the terms the regulation sets, such as not interfering with a dam, line or pipeline. A reserve doesn't cancel titles registered before it, and it can be changed or cancelled by a later regulation. Our summary, checked 2026-10-12.

Sources (3)

Mineral, placer and coal tenures, Mineral Titles Branch (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Mineral Reserve Sites, Mineral Titles Branch, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Mineral Tenure Act, s. 22 (mineral reserves), BC Laws (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-12).

What a claim over private land means →

§12What's planned nearby Nothing found

No logging, Crown land applications or heavy Crown land uses on record within 1 km. No major project in assessment or approved within 10 km on the Environmental Assessment Office's register.

The record

Cutblocks applied for (1 km): 0
Approved, not yet logged (1 km): 0
Logged in the last 5 years (1 km): 0
Old growth set aside from logging (1 km): None within 1 km on the Province's map of legal old growth management areas
Trails on the Province's maps (1 km): None within 1 km on the Province's recreation trail and historic trail maps, and no OpenStreetMap path along or across the lot
Woodlots and community forests (1 km): None within 1 km on the Province's map of woodlot licences and community forests
Tree farm licences (1 km): None within 1 km on the Province's map of tree farm licences
Crown land applications (1 km): None
Quarry, industry, energy or tower tenures (500 m): None
Along the lot line: Private land along the whole lot line (every side)
Rights of way and easements drawn on the lot: None drawn on ParcelMap BC; a charge with no plan can still be on the title, so ask for it
Wildlife conservation land (1 km): None within 1 km on the Province's map
Crown land reserves and notations (1 km): None within 1 km on the Province's register
Local development applications: Not covered here: we read applications only where the local government publishes them as open data (the CSRD, the City of Surrey, the City of Abbotsford and the District of Squamish). Ask the Peace River Regional District what's in progress on and near the lot
Crown range tenures (1 km): None within 1 km on the Province's map
Registered trapline: The lot is inside trapline area TR0733T011 on the Province's map
Nearest power line (200 m): None mapped within 200 m
Oil and gas pipelines (200 m): None within 200 m on the BC Energy Regulator's permit map
Gravel pits, quarries and mine permits (2 km): None within 2 km on the Province's map
Permitted discharges to air, water and land (2 km): None on the Province's list
Military land (2 km): None within 2 km on OpenStreetMap
Major projects in assessment (10 km): None
Major projects approved (10 km): None
Reviewed, no assessment needed (10 km): None
Closed or not reviewable (10 km): None

Cutblocks are from the province's forest tenure records, which cover Crown forest licences and woodlots, not logging on private land. Crown land applications are on the province's tenure register; the Applications, Comments and Reasons for Decision site takes public comments on them. Mineral and placer claims are in their own section above.

Some landscape units have no mapped areas and keep old forest by a share set in a provincial order instead, so none on the map doesn't mean the forest nearby can be logged. Our summary, read 2026-10-11.

Who owns the land beside the lot is ParcelMap BC's owner type for each parcel that shares the lot line (measured by us along the line); the open parcel map names no owners. Crown land beside a lot, with a title or without, can be logged, leased, grazed or roaded, and a view or trail across it isn't yours to keep; ask the natural resource district or FrontCounter BC. Land owned by the local government is often a park, a road allowance or a utility lot; ask the local government what it's for.

A trapline gives its registered holder the right to trap fur-bearing animals in the area, but traplines are registered on Crown land: on titled land the owner or occupier may trap, and anyone else needs their written permission (Wildlife Act ss. 41, 42); trapping on cultivated land without the owner's consent is an offence (s. 39). Traps and trappers' trails are likely on the Crown land around the lot. The trapline map's lines are broad and are drawn over private land too (our reading). Our summary of the Wildlife Act, read 2026-10-07.

Who holds a trapline or territory isn't shown here; the Province's regional Fish and Wildlife office can say who to talk to.

Major projects are those large enough to need a provincial environmental assessment: mines, power plants, pipelines, transmission lines, highways, ports, dams and resorts, among others. Each is on the Environmental Assessment Office's register at a single point, the location it gives for the project. A mine, pipeline, transmission line or road can reach well past that point, so a project listed 8 km away can still pass the lot, and one placed beyond 10 km isn't listed here. Each project's page on the EAO's site has its maps, documents and comment periods; distances are measured by us from the lot line to the point. Smaller projects (subdivisions, smaller pits and quarries, and other works under the assessment thresholds) aren't on this register.

Power lines are from two maps read together: the Province's map of high-voltage transmission lines (BC Hydro's, private and independent producers' lines), which leaves voltages out, and OpenStreetMap, where volunteers map lines and record the voltage where it's known. Smaller distribution lines along streets aren't included. Distances are measured by us from the lot line to the mapped line, which can sit some metres off the real one. The line's right of way, and what it lets the line's owner do on the land, is set by the easement on title, which is the definitive record: check it in the title search, and ask BC Hydro (or the line's owner) about clearances for building and trees.

Sources (22)

Power lines near a lot: rights of way, building, trees and health →

Getting power to a lot: who connects it and who pays →

Traplines and guiding territories: who may trap or hunt on the land →

Hunting and shooting on your own property: what still applies →

§14Wildlife and habitat Nothing found

No species-at-risk records on or within 500 m of the parcel, and no designated wildlife areas over it.

The record

At-risk species or ecosystems on the parcel: None recorded
Within 500 m: None recorded
Wide-ranging species mapped over it: None
Secured records in the wider area: No
Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel: No
Ungulate winter range over the parcel: No
Proposed Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel: No
Proposed ungulate winter range over the parcel: No
Federal critical habitat over the lot: None on the federal map
Sensitive ecosystems mapped on the lot: Not mapped here: the lot isn't covered by any of the Province's sensitive ecosystem inventories (checked 2026-10-11)
Invasive plants recorded on the lot: None on the Province's list
Invasive plants recorded within 100 m: None on the Province's list
Forest cover (the Province's forest inventory), 75% of the lot: Dense grass and other low plants; air photos of 1988
Forest cover (the Province's forest inventory), the rest: 25% of the lot in smaller stands on the inventory

Red-listed species are at risk of being lost from BC; Blue-listed are of special concern. A record shows where the species was found, sometimes decades ago; no record doesn't mean nothing lives here, since most land has never been surveyed.

Species at risk can still limit building through local environmental development permit areas: ask the local government before planning work.

Critical habitat for some sensitive species is kept off the public map; Environment and Climate Change Canada's Species at Risk Public Registry has each species' recovery strategy.

The Province's records come from invasive plant surveys, mostly since 2022, along roads, trails and shores and wherever crews were sent; no record doesn't mean no invasive plants. A record marks where a plant was found that day; it may since have been treated.

The Province's Vegetation Resources Inventory maps forest and other land cover from air photos, reading each stand as one: its trees by share of the stand, the leading species' age and height projected forward each year from the photo year, and crown closure (the share of the ground the tree crowns cover). It is built to plan forestry across the landscape, not to describe one lot: a mapped stand can hold clearings, a house site or other trees, the figures on private land can rest on old photos, and a stand logged or cleared since may still be drawn as forest. Before counting on timber, clearing costs or how much fuel stands near a house, have a forester or arborist walk the lot. Our summary, checked 2026-10-18.

Sources (8)

What a species-at-risk record means for a landowner →

Cutting trees on your property: whose rules apply →

§18Noise sources nearby Nothing found

No railway, no highway or major road and no airport or airstrip mapped within 2 km.

The record

Nearest railway (2 km): None mapped within 2 km
Nearest highway or major road (2 km): None mapped within 2 km
Nearest airport or airstrip (2 km): None mapped within 2 km
Light at night (within 1 km, 2024): None recorded from space; darker than about 94% of BC's homes.

Distances only, not a measured noise level; noise depends on traffic, trains per day and terrain. Measured by us in a straight line from the lot line to the mapped centreline of the track or road, or to the edge of an airport's mapped grounds (to its point where only a point is mapped); a mapped line can sit some metres off the real one.

Railways are OpenStreetMap's track in use: main, branch and industrial lines, sidings and yards, and rapid transit; lines mapped as disused or abandoned, and track in tunnels, are left out. "Main line" is how OpenStreetMap's mappers class the line. Highways and major roads are the roads OpenStreetMap classes as motorway (a freeway), trunk (a highway) or primary (a major road). Airports and airstrips are every aerodrome OpenStreetMap maps, public or private, with its type where mapped; heliports aren't included. Airport noise exposure maps (the NEF contours some airports draw) aren't open data, so they aren't used.

Visit at rush hour and at night, ask the seller how often trains pass, and confirm with the local government whether a noise bylaw, a development permit area or an airport zoning regulation covers the lot. For a railway, the railway company or Transport Canada can say how many trains use the line; for an airport, ask the airport about flight paths.

Light at night is what the VIIRS satellite records looking down at about 1:30 a.m., averaged over the cloud-free nights of 2024, with fires, the northern lights and other passing light left out (the Earth Observation Group's yearly composite); its cells are about 460 m by 300 m in BC. We give the median of the cells within 1 km of the lot's middle, in nanowatts per square centimetre per steradian (rounded to whole numbers), set against the same figure at BC's homes (Statistics Canada's 2021 dwellings on ISED's points) and named after places that read alike (our reading). It is light going up, not how dark the sky looks from the ground: a nearby town's glow on the horizon (Winter sun lists any towns whose lights are in direct line), the moon, a neighbour's yard light and the trees aren't in it, and it says nothing of light at other hours. For stargazing, look at the sky from the lot on a clear, moonless night. This product was made utilizing VIIRS Nighttime Lights data produced by the Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines.

Sources (3)

OpenStreetMap road data as of 2026-10-13, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); OpenStreetMap railways and aerodromes as of 2026-10-13, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); 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).

Railways, highways and airports near a lot: what the distances mean →

Dark skies: what the light-at-night figure means, and what it leaves out →

§26Speculation and vacancy tax Nothing found

This lot is outside any municipality, in the Peace River Regional District's electoral areas, and no electoral area is in the Province's speculation and vacancy tax area outside Metro Vancouver, so the tax doesn't apply to a home here.

The record

Place: this rural area
In the taxable area: No

Sources: Taxable areas for the speculation and vacancy tax, Province of BC (page updated December 8, 2025) (summarised in our words); Speculation and vacancy tax rates and exemptions, Province of BC (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-04).

Where the speculation and vacancy tax applies, and who pays →

Not covered here1

What these public records can't answer for this lot.

§02What you can build (zoning) Not covered here

We can't name this lot's zone: the Peace River Regional District isn't among the local governments whose zoning maps we read, which are those published under an open licence.

The recordthe lot on the plan

Heritage conservation area: None over the lot on the Province's list of local heritage conservation areas (a newly designated one may not be listed yet, and single buildings protected by a heritage bylaw aren't on it)
Fewest homes provincial law requires: Adds no homes here: the lot is in the Agricultural Land Reserve, where the Agricultural Land Commission's limits on homes come first (usually one secondary suite or accessory home at most, and some need the Commission's approval).
Transit-oriented area (provincial minimum): Not in one: the Province sets transit-oriented areas only around the SkyTrain, West Coast Express and bus exchange stations its regulations list, in Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, New Westminster, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Delta, the Langleys, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, the North Vancouvers, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, Victoria, Saanich, Langford, Colwood, View Royal, Nanaimo, Lantzville, Kelowna, Kamloops, Vernon, Penticton, Prince George and Whistler, and this lot is outside a municipality (B.C. Reg. 263/2023, checked 2026-10-06).
Short-term rentals (provincial rule): The Province's principal residence requirement doesn't apply in Electoral Area B of the Peace River Regional District (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.

We cover local governments that publish their zoning map under an open licence, in the Thompson-Nicola, Columbia Shuswap, East Kootenay, North Okanagan, Central Okanagan, Nanaimo and Sunshine Coast regional districts and cities from Surrey to Fort St. John (list on the Data sources page). Ask the local government which zone applies here.

The provincial floor is our summary of the small-scale multi-unit housing rules in the Local Government Act (ss. 481.3 and 481.4) and the Local Government Zoning Bylaw Regulation, checked 2026-10-04. Local governments had to bring their bylaws in line by June 30, 2024, and with the 2025 changes by June 30, 2026, so the zone's own rules usually allow at least these homes already; height, coverage, setbacks and parking still decide how they fit. Whether the lot is inside an urban containment boundary, on community water or sewer, or near a frequent bus stop isn't checked here: confirm with the local government before you buy or build.

Sources (8)

Heritage Conservation Areas of BC, Heritage Branch, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Local Government Act, ss. 481.3 and 481.4 (small-scale multi-family housing), BC Laws (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-04); Local Government Zoning Bylaw Regulation, B.C. Reg. 262/2023, BC Laws (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-04); Small-scale, multi-unit housing, Province of BC (page updated January 20, 2026), and its Provincial Policy Manual (summarised in our words); Local Government Transit-Oriented Areas Regulation, B.C. Reg. 263/2023 (consolidated to September 29, 2026), BC Laws (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-06); Local Government Act, s. 481.01 (zoning in transit-oriented areas), BC Laws (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-06); Principal residence requirement, Province of BC (page updated September 21, 2026) (summarised in our words); Electoral Areas – Legally Defined Administrative Areas of BC, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

Short-term rental rules in BC →

Work done without a permit: what it means for a buyer →

Official records on a property: what's public, and how to look them up →

What a seller must tell you, and what you have to find out yourself →

§28Questions to ask

Built from what these records found, plus the basics for any purchase. Tick them off as you go (this browser remembers them; nothing is sent to us), or print the page.

For what we found

For what this report flags under Look into: what it found, then the questions it raises and whom to ask. Start here.

The report All or part of this parcel is in the Agricultural Land Reserve. Farmland reserve (ALR)

Are there ALC decisions, applications, conditions or compliance orders on the property?Ask the seller or their agent
In the ALR, what does the Agricultural Land Commission allow here for a second home, a bigger house, subdividing or fill, and does local zoning add limits?Ask the local government

The report Mapped water on or within 30 m of the parcel: 7 unnamed streams and 6 unnamed wetlands. Water and streamside setbacks

Has any work been done in or near the stream, lake or wetland, and was it approved?Ask the seller or their agent
Does the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation or a local setback apply to this lot, and would building, clearing or a dock need an environmental professional's assessment?Ask the local government

Worth confirming

The report has a lead on these, quoted above the questions it bears on: ask to confirm it holds for this lot.

The report An evacuation alert covered this lot in May 2023 (Stoddart Creek Wildfire, Peace River Regional District); no order since April 2017. Evacuation orders and alerts

Were you ordered out or put on alert while you owned the property, for how long, and was anything damaged or claimed on insurance?Ask the seller or their agent

The report Nearest fire station: Fort St John Fire Department, 28 km, on the Province's list (in a straight line). Services nearby

Is the property inside a fire protection area, which fire hall responds, and how far is it by road?Ask your insurer

The report ISED's broadband data has homes or roads within about 1 km of the lot but no wired or fixed wireless service recorded at any of them; satellite is likely the option. Internet

If there's a home, what internet service does it have now (provider, speed and monthly cost), and is it reliable enough for video calls?Ask the seller or their agent

The report Yearly snowfall (1991-2020): 206 cm at Fort St John Airport, 24 km. Climate

How much snow do the driveway and road get in a normal winter, who plows the road and how soon after a storm, and what did heating cost last winter?Ask the seller or their agent

No answer yet

The public records don't answer these: ask.

The seller or their agent

Were all buildings, suites and additions built with permits, and is any use on the property non-conforming?why
Has the property or any building on it ever flooded or had water in the basement or crawlspace?why
If there's a home, has it had a long-term radon test (3 months or more), what did it show, and is there a radon reduction system?why
Is the property on a well or community water, and on a septic system or sewer? For a well, can I see a recent flow test and water quality test; for septic, its permit and last pump-out?why

The local government

Which zone applies to this lot, and are there site-specific rules, development permit areas or official community plan policies that affect what I want to build?why

Your lawyer or notary

What does the title search show: easements, covenants, rights of way, liens and the surveyed area?

Your home inspector or a specialist

Can the well and septic system be inspected and tested before subjects are removed?why

The school district

Which schools is the lot in the catchment of, is there room in them for my children's grades, and is there school bus service on this road?why

Find the people

Official public registers: find someone near you, or check that the one you've found is licensed. No one pays to be listed.

Lawyer · title search, conveyancing, easements and covenants
Law Society of BC lawyer directory
Notary · conveyancing and title search
Society of Notaries Public of BC roll of notaries
Land surveyor · lot lines, building locations, a survey certificate
Association of BC Land Surveyors member directory
Well driller or pump installer · a new well, a flow test, pump work
BC register of well drillers and well pump installers
Septic practitioner · septic inspection, design and installation
ASTTBC registrant directory (pick ROWP under Sub Class)
Agrologist · soil, farm capability and ALR applications
BC Institute of Agrologists directory of registrants

Buying from outside Canada or through a company, or working out the property transfer tax: AcreScout sets out who can buy land in BC and what the transfer tax comes to. Confirm with your lawyer or notary.

§29The parcel record

Parcel type: Subdivision
Owner type: Private
Plan: –
Mapped area: 263.76 ha (651.78 acres)

Mapped area is from ParcelMap BC and can differ from the surveyed area on title. Owner names, assessed values and title charges aren't public data; a title search at the Land Title and Survey Authority shows easements, covenants and liens.

Source: ParcelMap BC parcel fabric (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), updated 2025-08-19.

§30Names on the map

1 official place name within 5 km of the lot.

The names (1)

Cecil Lake Ecological Reserve, park, 3.4 km south · official since 2010

Official names from the Canadian Geographical Names Database, measured by us from each name's point to the lot's middle; a creek's or a range's point is one spot on it. Many BC names have origin notes (who or what a name recalls, when it was adopted) on BC Geographical Names: each linked name opens its page there. Old newspapers on UBC's BC Historical Newspapers can be searched for the nearest community; its terms allow research or private study.

Source: Canadian Geographical Names Database (Natural Resources Canada), via the GeoNames API (OGL-Canada).

Land for sale nearby

The 5 nearest listings on AcreScout within 25 km, nearest first.

Listing	Asking price	Size	Per acre	From the lot
8363 252 RoadFort St. John, listed 95 days ago	$629,000	133.5 acres	$4,711 an acre	17 km
14203 217 Road GoodlowPeace River Regional District, listed 146 days ago	$497,900	163 acres	$3,055 an acre	23 km
15708 267 RoadFort St. John, listed 34 days ago	$589,900	160 acres	$3,687 an acre	23 km
14154 Smith RoadFort St. John, listed 170 days ago	$1,824,900	156 acres	$11,698 an acre	24 km
Lot 2 Daisy RoadFort St. John, listed 206 days ago	$134,900	1 acre	$134,900 an acre	25 km

Distances are straight lines from the lot's middle to the listing's pin. Where AcreScout places a listing only roughly, no distance is given, only the place it's near. Per acre is left out under about an acre. Asking prices are what sellers ask, not what land sells for.

Listings: AcreScout (our sister site), active listings as of 2026-10-20. Asking prices set by the sellers; not a valuation.

Checked 2026-10-20. General information from public records, not an inspection, survey, appraisal or legal advice. Confirm with the local government and a professional before you buy or build.