TerraFund Guidance for Creating Strata

This article is required for projects with ANR sites and explains how to identify and represent strata when creating site profiles on TerraMatch.

This section provides guidance on how to identify and stratify a site and how to map strata in a site. 

All ANR projects are required to identify existing site characteristics and vegetation types (strata) in their restoration site during site profile creation on TerraMatch.

Strata are divisions within a site based on restoration strategy or landscape characteristics. If a restored area has significant variation in topography, vegetation, land-use history, or disturbance, champions should stratify to capture and represent these differences, as they may impact restoration success. Common factors used to define strata include slope (e.g., flat vs. steep), soil type, vegetation type, and restoration approach (e.g., natural regeneration vs. Planting.

Stratification improves the accuracy and reliability of monitoring by ensuring that different conditions within a site are properly represented. Strata should be practical and clearly distinguishable in the field, without being overly complex. 

Mapping and describing strata 

Each stratum should be clearly mapped or documented so that the team can easily locate and revisit them during monitoring. Each strata should have a number and short description. Please refer to the diagram below.

Once defined, monitoring plots should remain consistent within each stratum over time to allow for meaningful comparisons. 

ANR Monitoring and reporting on Terramatch 

All ANR monitoring is conducted using monitoring plots, which provide the basis for tracking regeneration and extrapolating results across the site. 

Monitoring plots should be evenly distributed across the sites and should reflect different vegetation strata (e.g., bare areas vs. regenerating areas) proportionally as described in the section above.

Projects to count and report on naturally regenerating trees in each monitoring plot in the bi-annual reports. 

Please Note: More detailed guidance on monitoring plot reporting will be provided in subsequent trainings.

Obtaining Geotagged Photos in the ANR Site: Collect at most 5 geotagged photos across the site that show the reality of the landscape.