نشریه پژوهش گردشگری
پیاپی 3 (پاییز 1398)

Hyrcanian forest is an outstanding remnant of ancient natural forests of the world. These forests were inscribed as a natural world heritage of UNESCO on 2019. This paper introduces importance of this unique natural ecosystem.  The situation of these forests which are surrounded by deserts, presence of Relict Tree Species, the last remarkable remnants of virgin forests of deciduous broad-leaved forests allover the world, Wide Longitudinal Range with length about 850 Km, Altitudinal Diversity of Hyrcanian forests where Altitude varies from 0 to 2850m asl, High Geological and Geomorphologic Diversity, Very Variable from the stand point of Climate, Various Environmental Conditions cause Variable Ecological Diversity and Habitats, High biological diversity, hotspot of bird biodiversity in the world, precedence belong to 25-50 million years ago, presence of old growth trees, locating in main immigration path of migratory birds and plentiful endemic species are some remarkable characteristics of this valuable forest ecosystem.

Ecotourism is a new trend in the tourism industry that introduces landscapes and beautiful scenery of nature as its attractions. Therefore, it is essential to consider importance of its role in environmental preservation to achieve a sustainable development. Forest management plan VAZ2 Series with an area of 2094 hectares and part of the watershed 49 in the north of Iran, plays an important role in this field with its rich ecotourism abilities and attractions. The purpose of this research is the priority of the criteria for determining the potential forest management plan VAZ2 Series for ecotourism sustainable development using multi-criteria decision-making techniques (Entropy and TOPSIS). In this study, Delphi group decision making method was used to determine the criteria for ecotourism sustainable development. Also, prioritization of the criteria was evaluated by using multi-criteria decision-making techniques Entropy and TOPSIS. Based on the results of Delphi questionnaires, 10 criteria were determined for ecotourism sustainable development of forest management plan VAZ2 Series. These criteria included slope, direction, elevation, soil logy, geology, road, typology, afforestation, view shed and hydrology. The results of weighting the criteria using the Entropy technique showed that slope with weight (0/168668), view shed with weight (0/092607), hydrology with weight (0/092478), road with weight (0.092437) have the highest weight among other criteria respectively. Also, the results of prioritization of the criteria using TOPSIS technique showed that geology, slope, and elevation, have higher priority compared to other criteria. Then, the layers were merged to creating plan VAZ2 Series ecological capability map. Finally, their outputs were prepared as capability maps in four classes including very inappropriate, inappropriate, appropriate and very suitable for ecological evaluation of VAZ2 Series. The results showed that 40% of this Series was in suitable class (837.6 ha), 30% in very suitable class (628.2 ha), 20% in very inadequate class (418.8 ha) and 10% is located on unsuitable class (209.4 ha). The results of this study indicated that the VAZ2 Series forestry plan has the potential to provide ecotourism services.

Due to the vulnerability of Hyrcanian forests, maintaining and improving its management is of paramount importance. Therefore, considering the different types of management, the impact of management on the sites should be determined. In this study, landscape modeling and land use changes were performed in ENVI5.3 and Arcmap10.5 softwares. Hyrcanian forests are the most important natural resources and are now part of the world natural heritage. That’s why conservation and planning are so important for maintaining it. Land use changes and deforestation were modelled using satellite images from 1933 to 2016 were studied using landscape indices such as spots, density and continuity of 2026. The results showed a 10% degradation trend over the period. Deforestation is affected by the landscape. Maintaining a sensitive area like looking at the continuity and density of forests is a very important area. As it has been shown, the sustainability of forest areas is highly dependent on the size of the forest patch, and the development of roads increases the boundaries and margins along that patch size, eventually reducing congestion and increasing the scope for human aggression. Although the density and centrality of the forest have a low relationship with forest protection from degradation, it is observed that the spots with this low ratio have higher degradability, as the isolated patches experience greater vulnerability. Landscape is the most important factor in the destruction of forests in the North, especially if viewed on a mosaic scale.

The forest is one of the valuable resources that nature has provided to humans. The Hyrcani forests - also called the Caspian and northern forests - are one of the oldest forests in the world having survived millions of years, from the Third Age of Geology and the Ice Age. Due to the need to increase rangelands and gardens in different periods in Iran, natural disasters, vilification, heterogeneous crop changes, pests, diseases and deforestation have caused large levels of Hyrcani forests to be reduced and destroyed. The proposal to register these valuable forests was initiated by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage in 2017 and was sent to the UNESCO Secretariat two years later. After field evaluation in 2018, at the forty-third meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, in Baku, these forests were listed as the twenty-fourth Iranian registered heritage on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Proper and scientific management of the recorded areas of the Hyrcani forests not only can be a source of protection for these works, but can also generate employment for thousands of people. Challenges of this valuable natural habitat include exploitation, livestock grazing, land use change, lowland elevation and elevation, and threats to natural factors include pests and diseases, fires and natural erosion.

Evaluation of ecological potential for different land uses is an effective step in assessing environmental or land use planning. Site selection for a park is subject to ecological capacity assessment and economic and social needs of the area. In this study, a systematic analysis method was used to overlay maps of resources in order to evaluate the recreational potential of the Vergavij area located in the southern part of Noshahr and Chalus cities with an area of 6650 hectares. Firstly, the slope, direction and elevation maps were used. Topography of the area was plotted on a scale of 1: 25000. Then, by merging them, a map of the Earth was formed. By mapping the shape of land - soil classes and vegetation, environmental units were mapped. Finally, comparing the units with the local tourism model, the map of centralized and extensive recreation was obtained. The socio-economic status of the villagers was also identified through face-to-face interviews. The results showed that the study area lacks centralized recreation class; 78.2% of the area has the potential of different types of recreation, as 45.4% of the area has first-degree broad-leisure potential and 32.8% has second-degree of centralized recreational potential. Also, 21.8% of the area had no recreational potential which was considered as a protected area of the park.

People have long believed in the healing power of herbs. The influence of herbs on human life has been instrumental in shaping the structure of myths, and people’s beliefs. There are different approaches to the use of medicinal herbs in the culture of Iranian ethnicity, each of which, based on the experiences of Iranian ethnicity, can be seen in different therapeutic patterns. One of the mentioned species is found in the region of Hircani forests of Northern Khorasan. Hyrcanian forests of North Khorasan are of great ecological importance because of their location in the dry, semi-arid and Caspian region. This is why the variety of herbs, especially medicinal herbs, is visible in that area. This article aimed to examine the medicinal herbs of the easternmost Hircani forests in Northern Khorasan.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between visual quality of Hyrcani forests and spatial pattern of land use in 9 locations in northern Iran. To do so, a significant portion of the area was photographed and ranked according to the views of a group of 150 viewers in terms of naturalness, cohesion, turbulence and complexity. The area map was prepared using Landsat 8- OLI image processing in 2016. Using the DEM layer and angle of view, their visible areas were identified and their spatial pattern of use was investigated using NP, PD, MPS, LSI, MNN, SHDI and PLAND land metrics. According to the results, forests near rangelands make up about 90% of the area. The results of MPS and LSI showed that the whole landscape was composed of patches ranging from 1 to 6 hectares. Landscape spots at location 6 are on average, more distant and forest patches at location 7 have the highest MNN. The lowest SHDI was obtained at point 2 and the highest at point 7. PLAND data showed that more than 50% of the landscapes were forest-related. The results of correlation analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between (R≥0.60, P>0.05), especially between viewers’ view of normality, cohesion, perturbation and SHDI and PLAND values. Visual preferences of people regarding recreational visits are areas with natural forest spots.

Anthropologists and culture researchers have always been interested in environmental studies, and no matter what their field of research is, they are also dealing with environmental issues. While beginning this study, the author attempted to survey many villages in the field, but due to lack of enough local informative, only about fifteen rural areas were studied. The 15 rural areas were selected based on priorities such as: geographical location, proximity to the center of the village, distance of the village to the main road, livelihoods and dominant economy of the villagers, the location of Qeshlaq on the shores of Mazandaran, the historical and cultural background of the village, how village houses are located, distribution of historical and religious monuments, etc. The main purpose of this study was to gather information about the beliefs and the imagination of the people living around the Hyrcanian forests about animals. A local guide came to every residential spot in the Hyrcani forests where the omniscients were present and got useful information from them. In addition to complete and confirm the information gathered, the study sites were again visited to get answers to many questions that remained unanswered. The purpose of this article was to investigate the importance and status of animal Hyrcanian forest around Ramsar city area. Therefore the author tried to illustrate the relationship between the inhabitants of this region and the animals living in the area. In the end, there was a lot of information which reminded us that the people of this area lived peacefully alongside the other creatures and respected each one of them, both playing a role in each other’s lives and survival, and the animals around them are not only not perceived as harmful, but are and will be necessary for human survival.