Quantitative analysis of poplar plantations in four IranianProvinces (Case of the study: East Azerbaijan, Zanjan, Ardabil and Kermanshah)

Poplar is very important as a fast-growing species in the country's industry. So far, popular information such as level ٬ volume and harvest has been obtained using unscientific and weak methods. Due to the lack of comprehensive, up-to-date, and reliable information in the country about poplars, the study of identifying potential and actual facilities of poplar cultivation from different aspects such as area, volume, harvest, distribution, and species in four provinces (East Azerbaijan, Zanjan, Ardabil and Kermanshah) which have a great potential for poplar plantation was done. The cluster sampling method was used in two steps. The first stage was the collection of library information and semi-open interviews in the rural areas and the second stage was the field survey in the villages of these four provinces. The data obtained from the field survey were items such as poplar cultivation area, poplar stand volume, dominant species in each region, and volume estimation through volume and weight tables. The results show that the average annual harvest volume in the four studied provinces is 43156 cubic meters with the average error obtained based on the comparison between the two methods of interview and field method is 15%. The area of poplar in the four above-mentioned provinces (18039 hectares) is about 10% of the total area of ​​poplar in the country, which shows an 8% decrease in poplar in these four provinces compared with previous years.