Environmental capability evaluation of land to develop range management plan (Case study: parcel A of Gheshlagh dam watershed)

Rangelands are among the natural resources which have a considerable effect on environment and man’s life. Iranian rangelands mostly have poor condition and exhausted by intensive over grazing, should be utilized according to their ecological capability and land suitability. The main objective of this study is to evaluate ecological capability and land suitability of Gheshlagh dam’s watershed area-parcel A (In Kurdistan province, western Iran) to develop range management plan. Following data collection; determination of the important parameters for evaluation of rangelands environmental capability in the study area was carried out and then obtained parameters were given values based on Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Finally, the obtained values were applied to the important parameters for evaluation of rangelands environmental capability according to technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The results approved that suitability of a land is classifiable for various types of land uses using MCDM methods. Also according to the results specified that the physical criteria of land have more effective than other parameters to develop range management plan. Moreover, land evaluation of study area showed that eastern parts of the watershed had higher suitability to develop range management plan.