Land Use Planning For Forest Catchments Of Arasbaran

In this study, land use palnning for six hydrological units (296690 ha) of Arasbaran forest catchments (NW of Iran in Azarbaijan) has been conducted. the main objectives of the plan were to promote sustainable use, to increase living conditions, and enhance environmental conservation in the region. First, ecological and socio-economic resources were surveyed and mapped (scale 1:50000). Then data analysis and integration with system analysis approach were performed. As a result, 3556 micro-ecosystems were mapped. Ecological capability of mapping unit (MU) was evaluated for: agriculture, range management, forestry, ecotourism and conservation with the aid of specified ecological models. Finally with coordination of socioeconomic data and ecological capability of MU, periority of land uses with qualitative-analogous method was established. At the end, map of land use planning for six hydrological units was depicted for management purposes. The results show that %5.38 of allocated land use is suitable for irrigation farming, %1.32 for dry farming, %17.43 for range management, %15.17 for protected forestry, %2.13 for forest plantation, %28.47 for' extensive ecotourism, %0.01 for intensive ecotourism and finally. %30.09 for conservation.