Crown Land question....help me read this map

[Andrewh]

Did I set up my Google Earth wrong or can it actually be true that yellow is all private land. I can assume the lined sections are private but the centre of the island seems a little far fetched.

andrew

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g426/Andrewshorvath/hunting/Screenshot2011-11-22at91031PM.png

[Whonnock Boy]

Yellow is private property. Sorry to burst your bubble.

[The Dude]

How you do dat?

[Whonnock Boy]

How you do dat?


Use this link. Go to Land Ownership and Status. In places find Integrated Cadastral Fabric. Click on crown or private.


http://archive.ilmb.gov.bc.ca/dm/wms/

[The Dude]

Thx! Wow! That is soooo cool! A new toy! :D

[Andrewh]

So someone owns the mountain in the middle of the island? It just seems a like a little too much.

Is the only huntable land the purple section then?

[Whonnock Boy]

It just seems a like a little too much.

Is the only huntable land the purple section then?

Probably not for the guy who owns it. Purple is crown land.

[Looking_4_Jerky]

Don't get too excited, that ICF layer is VERY inaccurate. The only way to know for sure is to do a title search through the land titles office. That layer doesn't take reversions into consideration either, so anything that has been owned outside the Crown but has come back to the Crown and never been re-disposed will show up as private. OK as a crude tool, but you still have to do homework.

[Mauser98]

Here's a more accurate map of Crown Land on Gambier

http://www.islandstrust.bc.ca/ltc/gm/pdf/gmschocpd0073.pdf

[KevinB]

Don't get too excited, that ICF layer is VERY inaccurate. The only way to know for sure is to do a title search through the land titles office. That layer doesn't take reversions into consideration either, so anything that has been owned outside the Crown but has come back to the Crown and never been re-disposed will show up as private. OK as a crude tool, but you still have to do homework.

That doesn't mirror my experience with the ICF layer, and I've used it a lot. It's not perfect but in general it is quite accurate. Outside of going to the land titles office, and asking for information about each and every parcel individually, this is the best there is. And, you can't just walk into the land titles office and ask to see a perfectly up to date map of private land. If they had one to show you, the map maker would probably have used this ICF layer. Sometimes municipalities or regional districts will have more up to date info, although they don't always distinguish between crown or private, they just keep track of owner name for tax purposes. This cadastral fabric layer relies on parcel information fed to it from local governments. Also, even the information at the land titles office can be out of date, as sometimes title changes don't actually get registered with them for awhile.

Reversions do happen but I wouldn't say they are all that common, in the grand scheme of things. Crown parcels also get converted to private but again it's not that common, in the grand scheme of things. Bottom line, in BC determining private land extent and boundaries is only so good, there is no single definitive source, and by the time you went through all the parcels manually, enough will have changed that you'd have to start over again!

Whenever I see a really large swath of forested land help privately, corporate owner is my first guess.

[pazz0]

This is all I get when I try to display Crown or Private land, or anything else relating to this link http://archive.ilmb.gov.bc.ca/dm/wms/
:(

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb4/mezz0italiano/Gambier.jpg

[KevinB]

try reloading the link from scratch. Sometimes the link to GE dies, not sure why. Yeah I hate the big red x of death, too.

[jhausner]

On Gambier it is private land so much as all that land is under the jurisdiction of the GVRD (Metro Vancouver). Some of it is watershed also. It isn't actually owned by some guy but is also isn't crown land. Your best bet is to always double check with 1) the regulations AND 2) the COs to see if you can hunt a specific area. If you're told NO then always ask why so the reasoning is clear to you.

But anyway that's why it is coming up as "Private" on your map. Metro Vancouver owned and controlled land is NOT crown land.

Using the maps though can be very helpful. They've helped me out plenty in arguments with farmers up near Vanderhoof in explaining to them that just because they illegaly put a fence on crown land doesn't mean they can keep hunters out or that no sorry the non-cultivated part of land next to your field is in fact crown land so I can sit here all I want as long as I don't shoot anything in or towards your precious hay field. :twisted:

[Mykos]

That is a great set of tools for Google Earth. Thanks for the link on that.

[WestCoastTodd]

[QUOTE=pazz0;1026728]This is all I get when I try to display Crown or Private land, or anything else relating to this link http://archive.ilmb.gov.bc.ca/dm/wms/
:(

You've got to be zoomed in pretty close too - try reloading and getting in close to where the OP was looking - not all the province is covered (or even very much of it).

[Looking_4_Jerky]

Outside of going to the land titles office, and asking for information about each and every parcel individually, this is the best there is. Yup, but that doesn't mean that's it's that great


If they had one to show you, the map maker would probably have used this ICF layer. Actually, they probably wouldn't, because they recognize the erroneous potential of the info, particularly when titles are registered at their branch straight from the notaries or legal parties involved in land transactions.


Bottom line, in BC determining private land extent and boundaries is only so good, there is no single definitive source, and by the time you went through all the parcels manually, enough will have changed that you'd have to start over again!

Kevin, you are quite right about this statement, but the reason that I like to tell people that the ICF layers are not the be all end all is that I have heard of hunters getting quite belligerent toward legitimate land owners when the hunters were under the impression that they were in the clear (because they saw the info on the ICF) and they think the land owner is just trying to give them a bum-steer. It would be wise if one used the ICF under the caveat that if someone ever approached you and advised you were on their land, you didn't tell them to f*ck off because you know they are full of crap because you saw online that land is actually public.

The other issue with it is that not all local govs have have drawn their cadastral info, and provided it to the prov gov.

[KevinB]

Yup, but that doesn't mean that's it's that great

Actually, they probably wouldn't, because they recognize the erroneous potential of the info, particularly when titles are registered at their branch straight from the notaries or legal parties involved in land transactions.

Kevin, you are quite right about this statement, but the reason that I like to tell people that the ICF layers are not the be all end all is that I have heard of hunters getting quite belligerent toward legitimate land owners when the hunters were under the impression that they were in the clear (because they saw the info on the ICF) and they think the land owner is just trying to give them a bum-steer. It would be wise if one used the ICF under the caveat that if someone ever approached you and advised you were on their land, you didn't tell them to f*ck off because you know they are full of crap because you saw online that land is actually public.

The other issue with it is that not all local govs have have drawn their cadastral info, and provided it to the prov gov.

Fair enough ;-), I agree with all that in your last statement. But you can get tired of giving disclaimers with every piece of data and at some point it's the responsibility of the end user to realize the coffee is hot and might burn them... anyone who would get belligerent towards someone claiming to be a rightful landowner, based solely on an abstract digital file, is making an error in judgement, for sure.

However to say that the ICF data as displayed in the google earth kml is "very inaccurate" ... you're correct that lots are changing hands constantly, and no digitial system can hope to keep up with that, BUT for most of those transactions, private lots are staying private, or large private lots are sub-divided into smaller private lots. Crown land doesn't change to private all that often, but it does happen andyone needs to be aware of the possibility. Lot "status" and extent is all that this ICF kml data displays and that changes a lot less often. Specific ownership info is kept elsewhere (i.e., land titles office). You're also right that local governments in some areas have not passed on their cadastral info to the ICF people, but that's pretty obvious when looking at the data, there's a big hole. It definitely has a degree of of "garbage in, garbage out" but it's still a very useful tool and to dismiss it as very inaccurate may cause people to stop using it, leaving them with no tool at all. All in all, I'd say it was "pretty good, use with a degree of caution". :?

Anyhoo, sorry for derailing this thread...to go back to the OP's question, it sure does look that legally, the land in question is privately held, whether it's Joe Bob's land, belongs to a corporation, or to a local government. To find out exactly who might own it or if it has reverted to crown in the meantime, you either have to have a paying subscription to BC Online (fraught with it's own errors), or go to a land title office. The local gov may or may not give out their data. Or of course just start knocking on doors...

[ryanb]

The map is not accurate. The single largest parcel throughout the centre of the island is not privately owned. The exact status, whether it be crown or owned by the regional district I cannot tell you, but it is not privately held. This is in no way confirmation of whether you can hunt there or not, I cannot tell you that.

[KevinB]

Well there you are. Either the status of that parcel is incorrect, or the status is odd and it displays as private, maybe it has been transferred to a land trust or something?

[CanuckShooter]

Another reason to move inland.....

[Mauser98]

Most of the land on Gambier is vacant crown land. Refer to post #9 for a link to a map.

[Looking_4_Jerky]

Fair enough ;-), but it's still a very useful tool and to dismiss it as very inaccurate may cause people to stop using it, leaving them with no tool at all. All in all, I'd say it was "pretty good, use with a degree of caution". :?

You're right Kevin, maybe I was being a bit too stern on calling it "very inaccurate". I'd say you have it bang-on with the last part of your quote.