Vegetation buffer zones and their role in the watershed management

Abstract: Concerning current various problems in the agricultural sector and non-point pollutions, the economic sense of prospective farmers requires the farmer to seek actions to preserve nutrients and soil in the farm. On the other hand, muddy and destructive floods threaten the water and food resources and the interests of human, annually. In such a situation, buffer zones can be considered as a modern idea and environmentally adaptive for farmers and human societies. Buffer zones in the watersheds also have diverse effects and services for human, which are currently less known to country managers. Natural buffers in two regions of Gorgan and Minoodasht cities in Golestan Province are as typical samples of buffer zones in Iran. Reducing the effects of destructive floods and protecting the city water resources from entry of non-point contaminants are most advantages of these buffers. The results of this study showed that buffer zones of the two studied regions play an important role in upgrade the ecosystem health of these areas. On the other hand, by designing and modeling buffers for critical areas of these two areas, flood damage and pollution can be reduced and farmer incomes increased. Based on these results, the use of buffer zones as a bioengineering tool in the studied areas is proposed.