Site Suitability Analysis for Rangeland Improvement and Development Practices (A Case Study in the Rangelands of Ghayen Plain, Iran)

This study aimed to select favorable site using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for practices including seeding and seed broadcasting, hoeing and seeding, contour furrowing, pitting and flood spreading to restore degraded rangelands Ghayen Plain, Iran. First, major effective criteria in selecting favorable sites for range restoration measures were adopted from the reputable literatures. Then, 80 questionnaires in the form of pair matrix were designed for each restoration measure with regard to the selected criteria. Questionnaires were distributed among lecturers, experts and authorities in local universities and offices. Final score and relative importance of criteria were calculated on the basis of geometric mean of questionnaires. Hierarchical tree structure with appropriate adaptability was generated in Expert Choice software. Results showed that rainfall and slope played an important roles in selecting favorable site for pitting. Soil infiltration rate and runoff volume had the highest relative importance in selecting suitable site for flood spreading project. Furthermore, for seeding and seed broadcasting practices climate and slope showed high relative importance. Rainfall expressed high relative importance in selecting favorable site for hoeing and seeding projects. Finally, slope and runoff volume were the major criteria in selecting site for contour furrowing project. Based on the generated location maps, 628 ha were suitable for flood spreading. In addition, the suitable area for the contour-furrowing and pitting operations was estimated to be 103 and 199 ha, respectively. The area of suitable sites for direct seeding and hoeing and seeding operations was calculated to be 3623 and 2750 ha, respectively.