Evaluation of a multi-purpose forestry plan in the forests of Khuzestan province

The implementation of the forest protection plan was started in 2003 in the form of a national plan due to the unfavorable situation of the Zagros forests and with the aim of protecting and developing forests in this region of the country. Considering the national nature of the multi-purpose forestry plan and the allocation of the national budget to it, the present study was conducted with the aim of quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the implementation of the plan in Khuzestan province. In this study, some parts of the forests under the management of the plan in Izeh, Andimeshk, Baghmalek and Indika were selected. At first, the multi-purpose forestry plan was defined based on the law on the protection and utilization of forests in the form of three goals of protection, restoration, and development and, of course, increasing the income of foresters, and all executive projects were included in these goals. To analyze the quantitative data, a one-way analysis of variance and Duncan's multiple-range mean comparison test were used to compare the means of the variables. Qualitative data and data differences between different studied areas were also analyzed using the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test. Based on the results of this study, it was found that in Khuzestan province in terms of quantity and quality of the plan implementation, Izeh area had the best performance, and Indika, Baghmalek and Andimeshk areas were in the next rank. The results also showed that the goals in the form of protection of Zagros forests are at the highest quantitative and qualitative levels. Forest development and rehabilitation are the second priority and the least planning to increase the income of forest dwellers and reduce their dependence on forests. Therefore, it cannot be expected that the executive projects within multi-use forestry plan of Zagros forests will succeed without changing the income level of foresters and the natives of the region will have maximum cooperation in advancing the goals of the plan with the government.