Determination of suitability of water resources for sheep grazing in rangeland of Lassem of Haraz

Determination of rangeland suitability and evaluation of rangeland for the purpose of gaining a correct understanding of its potential, especially for utilization of rangeland regions possessing very delicate ecosystems, are both very important and ensure sustainable development. In this research, carried out for studying the suitability of water resources, the three sub-models of distance from the water resources, the quantity of available water, and the quality of the water available (which form the components of the main model) were studied. The study was conducted in four sub- regions (with a total area of 2971.486 hectares) in the Lassem Haraz range of the province of Mazandaran using FAO’s method in the GIS environments. Results obtained from this research showed that the range studied had no shortcomings (regarding the quantity and the quality of available water), except for the distance to water resources (which is the main factor determining the suitability of rangeland regions with respect to water resources). Based on the model of the suitability of the water resources , 52.4 percent of the range in the four sub – regions was in the S1 class of suitability, 15.8 percent in the S2 class, and 31.8 percent in the N (not suitable) class.