A Correlation Analysis of the Management Practices and the Effectiveness of Range Management Cooperatives in Golestan Province

This research analyzed the effect of management practices and the effectiveness of range management cooperatives on conservation, reclamation and utilization of rangelands in the Golestan province. The Cooperatives which had at least 5 years of operations were selected. A survey research was used to conduct this study. The population consisted of (N=1043) members from 21 range management cooperatives in Golestan province. A classified random sampling technique was used to select (n=280) members. Data was collected using a questionnaire. Results showed that the effectiveness of cooperatives on conservation, reclamation and utilization of rangelands gained a mean score of 3.35. Respondents indicated that factors such as controlling stocking rate in rangelands, implementing shrub planting and preventing rangeland transformation to barren lands, are pretty effective. Correlations showed that all the management activities except three factors namely consisting of relation with other cooperatives, the amount of relation with members and establishment of cooperatives in an appropriate location, had positive and significant relation with range management cooperatives effectiveness. Factor analysis classified factors in to four groups. The first factor group was economic-social welfare, which explained 28.48 of total variance. Based on the findings and to increase the effectiveness of the cooperatives, it is recommended that range management cooperatives should take serious attempt to entice greater trust and satisfaction of members, provide drinking water for livestock and planting trees to increase forage.