The effect of the co-management system on the vegetation properties in the winter rangelands of Sargache-Bisim, Masjed-Soliman

Having considered governmental constraints, the feasibility assessment of reassigning the nomadic rangelands’ responsibility to the nomads is underway. Accomplishing a study investigating the given proposal, the winter rangelands of Sargache-Bisim in Masjed-Soliman city were selected as a pilot. The evaluated indicators were rangelands capacity, rangelands condition, trend, and percent of utilization before arrival as well as after the departure of the nomads from the rangelands. The study took three years starting in 2016. For this purpose, 20 plots of 1 square meter were installed alongside two 500-meter transects, and the rangelands capacity indexes were defined using systematic-random sampling. The grazing results showed that most licensees did not have livestock; on the contrary, the herders present in the area did not have grazing licenses. The vegetation assessments also showed that the condition and trend of the rangeland before entering and after leaving the nomads were moderate and negative in type I; weak and negative in type II, respectively. Similarly, the capacity per hectare decreased during the operation period in both types. Utilization percentage increased in type I while decreasing significantly in type II. Conducting ANOVA, the results approved the significance of treatment of year-to-year surveying on all the vegetation parameters at 0.01 level. Comparison of the means, net productions were 92.433 and 72.833 for the first and last years, respectively. Meanwhile, rangeland capacity and utilization percentage were respectively 0.2717 and 41%, and 0.205 and 45% for the first and for the last year. In general, the impact of the defined co-management system in improving the rangeland conditions of Sargache-Bisim winter rangeland in Masjed-Soliman city was evaluated as weak. The more related organizations cooperate with tribal representatives, the more lucrative outcomes are achieved for beneficiaries.