Sites and habitats

A site is the common location for restoration cycles, field tasks, observations, habitat surveys and treatment applications. Give each location a stable name and field code before recording activity. The conservation manager sets its availability so planners can distinguish active ground from an area resting or restricted. Area and location on the site record give the team a common reference when people use different local names for the same plot.

The habitat survey adds a dated boundary and measured area to a particular site. A surveyor can revisit a site and preserve another dated capture instead of replacing the original geometry without explanation. The Habitat Sites page lets the team filter boundaries by site and survey date, inspect the captured geometry and open its source record. Use it during handoff between a surveyor and the manager planning the next restoration cycle.

• Site identity. Keep the field code, name and location stable across field and survey records.
• Availability. Review the site status before a new cycle or task is assigned there.
• Survey evidence. Keep each boundary, survey date and area together on the habitat record.

Agree how the team names sites and which person may change availability. A site marked Restricted deserves a clear operating decision before anyone schedules field work there. Agree the mapping source and how a surveyor checks an area figure against the geometry being captured. Keep units consistent: the site and habitat records both express area in hectares. Decide whether a new boundary is a fresh survey or a correction to a prior capture, and retain the record needed for comparison.

Set access so a surveyor can maintain habitat captures and observations while the manager owns site availability. An operator needs to recognize the site on an assigned task, even when the operator does not maintain its boundary. Confirm that each survey references the intended site record rather than a typed place name.

Take a site known locally as Willow Bend. The manager confirms its field code, location and current availability. A surveyor captures the boundary on the agreed survey date, records its area and opens the new Habitat Sites source record to check that it points to Willow Bend. The manager then starts a restoration cycle against that site. Later, an observation and a task should lead back to the same site. If the boundary was filed against a similarly named location, correct that reference before the cycle review relies on its area.

• Active Sites — Locations available to review for upcoming restoration work.
• Habitat Survey Register — Dated boundaries and measured areas for a selected site.
• Resting or Restricted Sites — Places whose availability calls for a manager’s decision.

Follow site selection and survey, then review the data model.