Administrative Maps

The public lands under the Commission’s jurisdiction are of two distinct types—sovereign lands acquired upon California’s admission into the Union in 1850; and certain federally granted lands including school lands, and swamp and overflowed lands.

For purposes of this GIS data, sovereign lands are considered to be further divided into two general categories—fixed-boundary sovereign lands and ambulatory-boundary sovereign lands. The following lands are included in this data: Portions of the ambulatory-boundary for state sovereign lands at a specific point in time, for portions of the San Joaquin River. NOT INCLUDED IN THIS DATA: School lands: These are what remains of nearly 5.5 million acres throughout the state originally granted to California by Congress in 1853 to benefit public education.