Natural areas of land with boundaries determined and mapped according to biological and ecological considerations (i.e., based on conservation design) are referred to as Sites. The most common type of Site, created for the purpose of identifying and characterizing areas of land to be protected, is a Conservation Site.
As a unit of conservation planning, Conservation Sites provide a means for describing areas of land with proposed yet incomplete levels of protection. In this context, Sites are distinct from Managed Areas, which are already under some formal, unified (and often legal) level of protection or stewardship. Thus, Conservation Sites may be construed as the conceptual forerunners of future Managed Areas.
Scientific and ecological information may also be tracked on other types of Sites, including Exchange Land Sites and Trade Land Sites (defined by Tract boundaries), and Managed Area Equi#sites (defined by Managed Area boundaries).