Assessment of Land Capability for Agriculture and Rangeland Development Using Hierarchical Analysis Method (Case study: Gaz long - Lavar-e Saheli Watershed of Bushehr Province)

Every development program and management planning for natural areas should be done based on ecological capabilities of the area in order to achieve continuous and efficient utilization of these areas. Ecological Potential Assessment is due to the necessity of choosing and optimizing the utilization of ecological potential, in terms of planning studies and environmental management in order to achieve the principle of sustainable development. The goal of this research is to determine ecological conditions of Gaz Deraz-Lavar-e Saheli watershed for agricultural and rangeland uses and also its comparison with current land use map of the area. In this research, first the criteria and sub criteria were determined evaluating different documents. The main criteria used in this research includes topographic maps, soil maps, lithology maps, climate maps, vegetation maps, and current land use maps. Then the scores and importance of these criteria and sub criteria were determined using the prepared questionnaires completed by experts. These criteria were weighted using hierarchical analysis Process in Expert Choice environment. Finally, all information layers were overlaid using weighted linear combination (WLC) method in Arc map and final ecological capability map for agriculture and rangeland uses was prepared for the area. The results show that in the final map of agriculture and rangeland uses, there are no classes of 1 and 2 of agriculture due to erosion and salinity limitation and also, no classes of 1 and 2 of rangeland due to slope area, climate, vegetation cover and soil depth. Also, in total area of the watershed (19964 ha), class 3 of agriculture is 3780 ha (18.93%), class 3 of rangeland is 9895.6 ha (49.56%) and class 4 of rangeland is 6095.5 ha (30.56%). The results show that integration of hierarchical analysis process and geographical information system for land capability assessment and identification of best criteria for capability assessment can be useful in proper management of the area, conservation of available resources and achieving sustainable development.