At some point in the process, you move beyond passive observation and curious listening to a dedicated data-gathering phase. I like to call this “gathering evidence.” This is when you document all the features of the site in earnest. Vegetation types, microclimate, animal species, topography, legal constraints, water sources, natural history, social history, threats of natural disaster, and so on. The following sections will touch on all these layers of the existing landscape, what you should be looking for, and how to research, monitor, and document them.