A Multi-Criteria Evaluation approach to Delineation of Suitable Areas for Planting Trees (Case Study: Juglans regia in Gharnaveh Watershed of Golestan Province)

For the successful tree establishment, an evaluation of land suitability is necessary.In this paper, we demonstrate how to implement fuzzy classification of land suitability in aGIS environment for afforestation with Juglans regia in Gharnaveh Watershed of GolestanProvince in Iran. Juglans regia is one of the most important agro-forestry species in manyrural parts of Iran. Relevant criteria for Juglans regia and suitability levels were defined usingliterature review and expert knowledge and layers were prepared and incorporated into a GISdatabase. We also defined the fuzzy membership functions for the criteria and assigned someimportant weights through expert knowledge and Analytical Hierarchy Process. Thisinformation was used as input to the weighted linear combination of MCE method. Ourresults indicate that a low percentage of area is classed as very highly suitable comprisingsome 645 ha or 11% of area for afforestation with Juglans regia. Results of the study alsoindicate the usefulness of fuzzy modeling of land suitability which provides some informationfor optimum land-use planning.