Determination of Land use and Ecological Capability of Asadly Watershed Using GIS

The optimum use and appropriate management of renewable resources, with dynamic characteristics, needs to evaluate and classify the ecological capability of environment and its socio-economic conditions. In order to determine the suitable land use and appropriate management, this research was performed in Asadly watershed using GIS. We first studied and mapped the ecological and socio-economic characteristics. These maps were digitized in Arc/Info software and then were entered to Arcview software with other data for creation database. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was produced in Arcview using topographic map and used to made elevation, slope and aspect maps. Then, the environmental units map was prepared trough overlying the maps of elevation, slope, aspect, soil types and vegetation cover in Arcview. The land capability for different land use was obtained using Iranian ecological model using structured Query Language (SQL) in Arcview. The results showed that the area has not any units with first and second class of capability for irrigated agriculture. 53.78% of land is suitable for rangeland, 28.75% for dry farming, 5.25% for irrigated farming, and 11.79 for conservation.