Assessment of Rangeland Degradation Indicators using Exploiters’ View between Authorized and Unauthorized Exploiters (Case Study: Saryqmish Winter Rangelands, Golestan Province, Iran)

     In recent years, large rangeland areas have been destroyed for various reasons, so that its negative impacts on local people's income and sustainable livelihood are become significant. Due to the fact that signs of negative or downward trends in the rangelands condition are being revealed prior to the complete degradation, a study was done to identify these sings and evaluate their importance in Saryqmish rangelands, Marave Tape County, Golestan Province, Iran. Data were gathered using direct and participant observations. Based on rangeland degradation indicators extracted from literature and interviews, a questionnaire was drawn up under which the respondents were asked to rate the importance of rangeland degradation indicators in two different scales: 5-point Likert-type scale and a 20-point scale. The results showed that "vegetation" with 68.9% and 53.3%, and "climate" with 48.9% and 77.8% are known as the indicators with medium and high importance in rangeland degradation, respectively. In other words, exploiters known climate and vegetation more important than other indicators in rangeland degradation. The results indicated that exploiters consider "reducing production plants" and "reduce the number of annual plants and grass" as the first priorities for assessing rangeland degradation Statistical comparison of the rangeland degradation indicators between authorized and unauthorized users pointed out that there were no significant differences between these two groups in assessed rangelands degradation indicators.