The Effect of Watershed Management Measures on Cultural Services of Ecosystem Case Study: Dehchenashk Sub-Watershed (Chehl Chai Watershed- Golestan province)

The present study is a new research in the field of ecosystem services and specifically ecosystem cultural services. Therefore, in this study, the effect of watershed management measures (educational and biological programs) on ecosystem cultural services from the stakeholder’s point of views of dehchenashak sub-watershed and experts is discussed. According to the purpose, 4 criteria including: relationship and durability of local communities, landscape aesthetic and tourist attraction and education were considered in the form of a questionnaire. Also, Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS software. The results showed that, the effect of watershed management measures on ecosystem cultural services has not been the same and the greatest effect is related to the criteria of education, landscape aesthetic and tourist attraction, relationship and durability of local communities, respectively. In other words, although all the studied indicators of the criteria have a significant correlation with the implemented measures at the level of 0.01, but the indicators of security, migration into village and aesthetic from the stakeholder’s point of views were not accepted. Also based on prioritization, indicator average the trust to experts (8.01) more than stakeholder knowledge awareness indicator (7.98), respect for the rights of others (7.61), improvement of relations (7.21), tourist attraction (7.07), landscape aesthetic (45.45) 6) correct use of resources (6.32), migration outside village (6.20), conflicts and disputes (5.37), security of local communities (5.28) and migration into village (4.70). In other words, among the mentioned indicators, the highest and lowest impacts are related to the indicator of trust to experts and migration into village, respectively.