Studying changes of rangelands area in northwest of Qeshlaq dam using multi-temporal satellite data

In the past decade, extensive changes have occurred in the land use and land cover of Qeshlaq dam watershed. The rangelands of the study area have undergone extensive changes, converted to other land uses, or lost their quality. The continuation of this process not only reduces the forage production and consequently livestock production but also increases unemployment and migration to the city, leading to increasing soil erosion and sediment yield as well as reduced size of the dam reservoir and reduced economic life. This research was aimed to detect and provide the map for the land-cover changes in the study area during 1987 and 2010 using TM Landsat 5 satellite images. In this regard, the available data of the study area and the data collected from field were used as ancillary data. Maximum land-use changes, with a reduction of 4857 ha in area, were related to the class II rangelands, followed by class III rangelands with an increase of 2983 ha, and agricultural irrigated lands with an increase of 1641 ha, respectively. Our results clearly confirm the heavy grazing in the study area and conversion of rangelands to agricultural lands.