The effect of topography factors on land use/cover changes of Yasouj forest park during 1965 - 2011

This study aims to investigate the effect of physiographical factors on land use/cover changes in the Yasouj Forest Park during 1965 to 2011. It was evaluated and monitored using aerial photographs 1:20000 scale, panchromatic satellite imageries from IRS-P5 (2011), and online Google Earth images (2011). Two series of images in two adjacent monitors were interpreted and compared using a simultaneously comparison and interpretation method. For this purpose some of land use/cover characteristics within sample plots taken from similar location were used in a digital systematic grid. The results showed that about 60% of sample plots located in different classes of slopes and elevations were not changed during this period of time. However the most land use/cover changes have been occurring in low slope areas and the least changes have been occurring in high slope areas. It is concluded that topographical factors, particularly slope are important factors for the protection of the forest cover in such areas. Park area protection could also be as an important prohibiting factor for major changes in the study area. The distribution pattern study of woody spices’s maturer stems is not good enough for about a 50 year period. Increasing dirt road in the park during the recent decades leads a social need for better planning of this decentralized recreational zone.