Forecasting of forest land changes in the Chaloosrood watershed

Deforestation affects watershed processes and biochemical cycles and lead to soil erosion and lack of water in the catchment areas. This study is aimed to investigate the changes in forest land in the Chaloorood watershed on the west of Mazandaran province using Geomod. In this study, maps of forest in the years of 1987 and 2015 were prepared using satellite images. Then the suitability forest map was produced by making a regression equation between suitability criteria maps and forest changes map in the period of 1987-2015. Finally, by using forest map in 1987, forest suitability map and the number of modified pixels in forest land between 1987 and 2015, Forecast of the forest map for 2043 was done using Geomod. Also, by using the Validate function and classified forest map 2015, as a reference map, and the forecasting forest map 2015, as a comparative map, the validity of the production map was evaluated. The results showed that the area of forest land in 1987, 2015, and 2043 was 38683.65, 2464.354 and 15227.25 hectares, respectively. The extent of forest changes in the last 28 years and the next 28 years is 35.72% and 38.76% respectively. Forest changes in the period between 1987 and 2015 under the influence of factors such as distance from the road, forest cover density, distance from the village, slope and elevation above sea level, respectively. The Pseudo R2 and ROC coefficients are 0.29 and 0.85 respectively, which indicates the proper ability of the model to estimate forest changes over the past 28 years and the relative agreement of the model with the real changes. In this study the accuracy of resulting land use maps was 96%, which represent the appropriate capability of Geomod in land use changes modeling in Chaloosrood watershed.