The role of landuse planning in optimal management of Zagros forests (Case study: Sarab Darrehshahr catchment, Ilam province)

Nowadays, severe destruction in Zagros forests is obvious because of environmental and socio-economical problems. In this context, the role of landuse planning in the optimal management of the resources is very important. In this research, landuse planning map was prepared for Sarab Darrehshar catchment in Ilam province, by system analysis method. For this purpose, the maps of slop, aspect and elevation were integrated and then the map of primary ecological units prepared. By integration of this map with maps of soil, plant typology and canopy, the final units map was obtained. Then, this map data and other ecological data driven from other maps, were collected in a table called as region ecological characteristics table. Prioritization of landuse in this study was performed by the modified quantitative and objective method. In the next step, landuse planning map with 18 types of different combination of consistent landuses was performed using ecological models of Iran, ecological capability evaluation model in Zagros forest (prepared in this research) considering socio-economical information of the area. Results indicated that the smallest area belonged to landuse of rural development with 36.7 ha and the largest areas belonged to watershed management, conservation and forestry with 3136, 2853 and 2288 ha, respectively. Areas of 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the quality degrees of forest landuse, were zero, 473, 1085 and 730 ha, respectively. Comparison of current map and landuse planning map revealed that a basic revision on kind and degree of the current activities in the studied catchment is needed.