Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

RANGELAND EVALUATION ACCORDING TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (CASE STUDY: PARSA DAM WATERSHED, SARAYAN, IRAN)

Mohammad Tajbakhsh, Sholeh Ghollsimood and Samira Maleki

Abstract

Iranian pastures are of the most important and valuable national resources of the country and thus appropriate management measures should be taken for their correct and systematic conservation, rehabilitation, and exploitation. In this study, pasture improvement was assessed based on the biological operations of the watershed projects conducted, including exclusion, counter furrow, piling, and sowing in the field of Parsa Dam of Sarayan Township together with the control areas to determine their effects on the regional vegetation and production. To this end, in each of the sampling sites, three 100-m transects were established. To determine the pasture condition and orientation, 4-factorial and orientation scale or scoring methods were utilized, respectively. To measure diversity, Estimates Win software was used and Shannon-Wiener and Simpson diversity indices were measured. The results showed that the vegetation characteristics improved through the improving operations compared to the control areas. Moreover, the pasture changed from poor to average and good conditions and from negative to positive orientation, respectively. The amount of forage production for livestock grazing in the areas under the improving operations was many times the amounts produced in the control areas and the increase in forage production consequently led to a rise in the grazing capacity. In addition, richness and diversity of the plant species underwent an enhancement.