Urbanization

Urbanization concerns in HTG Territory -- please be patient as the map loads, as there is a lot of data.

These maps show the extent of urban and agricultural development in Hul'qumi'num Territory, highlighting the period from 1999 to 2016. We have taken several different approaches to showing this, including a land sue classification of LANDSAT data to show urban areas, and an analysis of light at night as it has changed during this period.

Based on a classification of land cover between 1999 and 2016, urban and agricultural land accounted for 7.8% (27,135.5 ha) of the land area of HTG core territory in 1999 and 14.0% (48,122.8 ha) in 2016. Of the urban and agricultural expansion that occurred within the study period (21,987.3 ha), the majority (64%) was from urban expansion into non-agricultural areas. Agricultural expansion accounted for 25% of the total expansion and urban expansion into agricultural land accounted for the remaining 11%.

The extent of archaeological sites were analyzed relative to urban expansion. These places not only document the physical evidence of past land use and occupancy of villages, cemeteries, camps, resource locales and places of spiritual use, but continue to have social importance for Hul’qumi’num people for whom ancestors hold considerable power. Within the study area (excluding the lower mainland) there are 1125 recorded archaeological sites. To protect the locations of these sites this data is not displayed on the web map. Of the recorded archaeological sites in the area, 768 were within the areas classified as agricultural or urban in 2016 and 439 of these points are in areas which urban or agricultural land use have expanded into since 1999. Expansion of urban and agricultural areas into archaeological sites has resulted in several high-profile conflicts over disturbance and desecration of these sites on private land. For more information on archaeological sites and conflicts within HTG territory see the "Ancestral Site Conflicts" map.

The extent Salishan place names can be used as a proxy for areas of significance to Hul'qumi'num peoples. This data is also confidential and is not displayed on the web map. Of the 296 recorded named places within the study area (excluding the lower mainland), 219 are within the areas classified as agriculture or urban in 2016 and 203 of these places are in areas which urban or agricultural land use have expanded into since 1999.The location of this development relative to the areas of cultural importance to Hul’qumi’num peoples can’t be overstated. This urban and agricultural land use occupies much of the same footprint as lands significant Hul’qumi’num peoples ways of life.

Analysis of night light data between 1999 and 2013 was used as proxy measure for urban density and a secondary measure of urban expansion. between 1999 and 2013 the total area covered by all classes of night light intensity grew by 84,197.6 ha from 190,785.1 ha in 1999 to 274,982.6 ha in 2013. Of this night light expansion the zones of higher intensity (proxy for denser urban areas) stayed approximately static or slightly decreased and the areas of lower night light intensity grew dramatically accounting for all of the positive expansion. This suggests that the urban expansion measured in the initial classification is primarily attributed to the expansion of low density suburban land uses.

The layer named "Intensity of Expansion" is another representation of the changes in urban and agricultural land use within HTG territory between 1999 and 2016. The layer shows the density of areas of both urban and agricultural expansion. The pattern shown by this layer is similar to that shown by the nighttime light layers. The extent of the expansion is concentrated not in the areas which were already dense urban areas but in the adjacent areas. Regions of the most intense expansion include the areas surrounding Ladysmith (Yellow Point), surrounding Cobble Hill, surrounding Duncan and surrounding Ganges on Salt spring Island. In contrast, Areas which already had established urban areas in 1999 such as the cities of Duncan and Ladysmith have relatively little expansion. Combined with the information gained from analysis of the nighttime light data it is inferred that it's not the cities but their surrounding suburbs and rural areas which are expanding.

This data was generated using the cloud-based remote sensing platform Google Earth Engine. If you are a registered Google Earth Engine user the classification project can be found here: GEE Classification

and the nightlights project can be found here: GEE Nightlights

For more information on the Hul’qumi’num peoples strategic vision on Urbanization, please see the HTG Strategic Land Use Plan: Chapter 7.2