Crown Land: Indicators and Statistics - Ministry of Forests

Private (fee simple title) lands are more difficult
to estimate and map because of the uncertainty
with early record keeping on lands reverting to the
Crown, referenced above. During the course of
non-aboriginal settlement, Crown land has been
converted to fee simple title in close to 100,000
primary survey divisions, 9 which vary greatly in size.
The map shows the percentage of lands converted to
fee simple title in each primary survey division.
Provincial Crown land consists of the balance
of land in BC. The inset map (Map 2) expands on
the Lower Mainland and southern Vancouver Island
because of the concentration of private land in these
areas and the pockets of predominantly provincial
Crown land and Indian reserves located among the
private land.
Discussion
The federal government administers 1.1% of BC’s
land base: 57% of that land base is in national
parks (615,000 hectares), 34% is in Indian Reserves
(360,000 hectares), and the remaining 9% is primarily
in national defence lands, and federal harbours and
airports (95,000 hectares).
9 When land is surveyed, primary survey divisions are first
established and then secondary divisions are established
within these. Individual parcel surveys are referenced to
these divisions. The approximate 100,000 primary survey
divisions cover only a small percentage of the province. For
an explanation of survey methods see Additional Information:
Taylor (1975b).
Currently, treaty settlement lands account for only
0.2% of BC’s land base. These treaty settlement
lands are owned by the Nisga’a, Tsawwassen and
Maa-nulth First Nations.
A majority of private land is located in river valleys and
riparian areas. These are the most attractive areas for
human settlement and therefore most Crown grant
applications in the past have been for valley land.
Generally, there is a higher percentage of private land
in the south of the province; in population centres;
and/or near transportation routes.
Historically, settlement patterns and government
policy decisions have been driven by opportunities
for natural resource extraction and the transport and
processing of these resources. Early in the province’s
history, transportation of forest, fish and mineral
resources took place along BC’s extensive waterways.
Export centres were located along the coast, resulting
in increased economic development in these areas.
Agriculture also influenced settlement patterns. Lands
favoured for agriculture have been fertile valleys with
prolonged growing seasons and close proximity to
population and export centres. The Lower Mainland
and southern Vancouver Island, both of which are
prime agricultural locations, have the highest density
of private land, while other notable concentrations
of private land are in the Peace, the Okanagan and
Chilcotin.
The large portion of private land on southeast
Vancouver Island is largely the result of railway grants,
issued between the years 1875 and 1925 to the E&N
Railway Company. These grants initially involved “a
strip of land twenty miles (32.2 kilometres) in width
along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island between
Seymour Narrows (north of Campbell River) and the
harbour of Esquimalt” 10 (Victoria), along with water
and subsurface rights (excluding gold and silver).
Over time, this strip of granted land was expanded
in size to the area indicated in Map 2. The extra land
was awarded to the company as compensation for
10 BC Gazette, July 18, 1874, p.139.
Ministry of
Forests, Lands and
Natural Resource Operations
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