The Ecologic Capability Evaluation of Golestan Province Lands Through a Land Use Approach to Develop Agricultural Uses

The ecologic capability evaluation determines which human activities can be performed on which area of land and conversely, which activities are impossible, economically unviable, or detrimental to environmental sustainability. This study set out to evaluate the land ecologic capability in Golestan province of Iran to develop agriculture (cultivating wheat) through land use planning and to investigate the factors effective on the agriculture ecologic capability. The study was exploratory in terms of method and applied library research method for data collection purposes. The identified factors include climate, precipitation, temperature, evaporation, topography (altitude), slope, slope direction, land use, water resources, flood zones, land types, erosion, and soil. Then, the optimal location of land for wheat cultivation was done in four stages using ARC GIS software and its tests in order to zone the lands appropriate for what cultivation. To this end, the raw data of the intended layers was extracted and examined, and the areas appropriate for cultivation were determined and classified. The appropriate values were assigned to the aforementioned layers so as to generate the final layer map to zone the lands appropriate for wheat cultivation. Finally, via overlaying the wheat-cultivated lands on the intended layers, the ecologic capability map of the area was made. These were then classified into three categories, namely lands with appropriate and high capability (about 13%), lands with medium capability (over 80%), and lands with low or no capability (about 5%). The intermediate territory of the province has the most fertile lands with semi-humid, temperate Mediterranean climate (Alborz highland plains). As a result, the best cultivation areas of this province are located in its intermediary and southern parts that have deep, high quality agricultural soil and adequate rainfall.