Assessment of collective utilization system in rangeland degradation (Case study: Summer rangelands of Noshahr county)

Management of range allotments in recent decades has always been one of the main challenges of rangelands.The current study was aimed to investigate the factors affecting rangeland degradation within collective utilization system. This is a descriptive study conducted based on field measurements and questionnaires. Therefore, a questionnaire was designed and its validity was confirmed at level of 85%. The number of samples was calculated to be 37 beneficiaries using the Cochran formula.The data, collected through questionnaires, were analyzed using SPSS. According to the results of Spearman's correlation coefficient a significant relationship was found between the structure of utilization and rangeland degradation. The results of Kruskal- Wallis test showed that among the individual characteristics of the beneficiaries, level of education showed a significant difference with rangeland degradation. In other words, rangeland degradation decreased in the range allotments by increasing education of beneficiaries. The most degradation was observed in the Yakhli as compared to other range allotments.