Introduction and Objective: Nowadays the effective role of organic matter has been proven in improving soil productivity. Regarding to sensitivity of sustainable organic matter component to different land use practices in addition to the organic matter, investigation of changes in its compound is important. Determining the evaluation of organic matter and amount of carbon stabilization in soil system, and their quality and quantity will be varied according to the type of land use. Material and Methods: Due to extensive land use in the north of Iran, present study focused on effect of these uses on the content of organic matter and its humic components. In this regard a study was carried out in five land use including: beech FOREST, Fraxinus plantation, black pine plantation, degraded FOREST and agriculture in Tajan watershed. Eight points were selected in each site and soil samples were taken at a 25 × 25 area to a depth of 15 cm. Results: Highest of organic matter (4. 68 %), fulvic acid (668. 750 mg/100 gr soil) and humic acid (976. 620 mg/100 gr soil) were observed in agriculture land cover. Some soil physical, chemical and biological features were also measured. Whole of studied soil characters were significantly different among land COVERS, except silt content. Conclusion: Though as for the results, highest contribution of organic compounds were observed in agriculture land, according to the PCA analysis, soil nutrition condition and microbial activity were more appropriate in FOREST stands. More quality of debris along the favorable environmental condition and presence of microbial activity can be attributed to a reduction in rate of accumulation of remains following the process of organic matter decomposition and mineralization in FOREST stands. The findings of this study suggest that protecting of natural FOREST is very important. In addition, in degraded areas of northern Iran, planting of Fraxinus excelsior species can be considered due to improvement of soil quality and health.

The main aim of this study was to investigate FOREST cover changes in Ilam watershed from 1965 to 2006. The FOREST cover MAP was produced using a digital aerial photo mosaic, scale 1:20000 for 1965. The IRS-LISS III images were also employed to generate the MAP in 2006. After radiometric and geometric corrections, different image processing techniques, such as band rationing, tasseled cap transformation and principal components analysis were applied on the imagery to be entered in image classification process. The optimum bands set have been selected; using OIF (optimum indexing factor). Image classification was done using supervised rule (Maximum Likelihood and Minimum Distance) once for the 6 land use/cover classes i.e. FOREST, rangeland, agriculture, gardens, bare land and settlements and then for FOREST and non-FOREST classes. Accuracy assessment of FOREST-non FOREST MAPping indicates that the highest overall accuracy is belonged to employ ML classifier (83% the overall and 78% the Kappa). Comparing the results in the period indicates that FOREST area in the region has been reduced about 16000 ha in a 42 years.

Function of water retention and avoidance of its loss, is one of the most important functions and services of the FOREST ecosystems which has a major role in provision of human welfare. In this study, in order to estimate the effect of FOREST cover on water retention and surface runoff reduction, the runoff depth has been calculated using Curve Number method. Firstly, study area has been homogenized in the basis of land use/land cover and hydrologic soil groups' characteristics and the Curve Number of each homogeneous unit determined. Thus, the average weighted Curve Number for entire of the basin has been calculated. Lag time and time of concentration parameters of the basin were also calculated. Then, the input data were entered into the HEC-HMS model and the model was run using Curve Number (SCS) method for six observed rainfall-runoff events. Four hypothetical scenarios have been developed for the concept of water retention by FORESTs and repeated the running of model for the developed scenarios. Results showed that in the case of scenario 1 which assumes that the entire of watershed area is covered by FORESTs, the values of initial loss and lag time in the watershed has increased while Curve Number and flood peak discharge values decreased that indicates the role of FOREST cover on the prevention of water loss and its retention in the soil. Furthermore, the volume of infiltrated water in scenario 1 is about 2.7×106m3.

Background and Objectives: FOREST degradation and land use change are among the factors affecting the changes of soil properties. Microbial characters and enzyme activity, as soil health indicators, are the most dynamic and sensitive soil properties, which play an important role in the nutrient cycle, long-term fertilization and energy flow in the soil. These characteristics provide useful and complete information on the biogeochemical cycles, since they react quickly to changes in the soil environment and provide comprehensive information on the soil physical, chemical and biological properties. Materials and Methods: With the aim of studying and evaluating the effect of FOREST, rangeland and crop cover on soil microbial and enzymes activities, the mountainous habitat of Kodir was considered from the Kojur region in the south-east of the Noshahr city. In this study, four types of vegetation including natural FOREST (Carpinus orientalis-Quercus macrocarpa), rangeland dominated by Astragalus balearicus-Teucrium subspinosum, rangeland dominated by Stachys byzantina and agriculture field (Triticum aestivum) were selected. Following field trip, in each of the studied land uses, three transects (50 meters apart from each other) with 200 meters in length were considered. Soil samples (25 × 25 cm area) were taken from a depth of 15 cm at the first, middle and at the end of each transect. In total, nine soil samples from land uses were transferred to the laboratory for analysis of soil physico-chemical, biological, microbial and enzyme activities. Results: The ANOVA indicate that the higher values of aggregate stability, clay and water contents, organic carbon, total nitrogen, particulate organic carbon, dissolved organic nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, fine root biomass, nitrate and nitrogen mineralization and the lower amounts of soil bulk density and carbon to nitrogen ratio were found in FOREST site. The greater amounts of sand content and the lower values of silt and dissolved organic carbon were observed in the agricultural field. Soil pH, electrical conductivity, particulate organic nitrogen and ammonium were not significantly different among the studied land uses. The highest values of basal respiration, substrate induced respiration, microbial biomass (carbon and nitrogen, phosphorus) and enzyme activities (i. e. urease, acid phosphatase, arylsulfatase and invertase) were found in FOREST ecosystem, while the studied microbial indices (i. e. qCO2, microbial ratio and carbon capability index) did not show statistically significant differences among the studied land uses. The principal component analysis (PCA) also showed higher values of soil microbial and enzyme activities, biological and fertility in the FOREST site with a completely different location on the axis. Conclusions: In general, the results of this study showed that different soil properties in FOREST ecosystem have better condition than the other studied land uses, while deFORESTation and land use change decrease soil microbial and biochemical activities due to decreasing organic matter quality.

Background and objectives: In preventing fire and reducing their effects, FOREST fire management is important. The purpose of this study was to provide a MAP of fire hazard potential and determine the effective factors on FOREST fires using GIS and artificial neural network for the cities of Ali-Abad, Ramayan, Azadshahr, Minoodasht and Kalaleh in Golestan province. Materials and methods: The criteria used in this research included FOREST and rangeland lands, temperature, rainfall and evapotranspiration, slope, aspect, elevation of the sea level, distance from urban areas, distance from rural areas, distance from agricultural land and distance from the road. Vegetation MAP, digital elevation MAP and land use MAP provided from the FORESTs of the rangelands and watersheds of the country, and the MAPs of temperature, rainfall, and evapotranspiration obtained from the organization of the meteorological for the whole of Iran. The influence of each parameter on fire ignition was determined by collecting of 37 samples from burned area and 37 sample from not burned area. 15 fire points that were not used in the modeling process was used For Validation the potential fire hazard MAP. For formation network between criteria and fire occurrence used of Multilayer perception (MLP) with Hyperbolic Pattern Algorithms. To this end, 70% of the data was used to train the network, 15% of the tests were tested and 15% of the data were used to validate the results. Results: The results were shown raining and distance from the road had must be influenced on FOREST fire ignition. Validation test showed that the best network was obtained in run 4 and epoch 450 with 0. 0038 Final Mean Square Error (FMSE) in training steps. Furthermore, about 95 percent of area burned and 84 of unburned areas has been properly classified. Finally, FOREST fire hazard MAPs was obtained based on each criteria weight. Results showed this network with 2 hidden layers and 12 neurons in each of them has best accuracy, and correlation coefficient (R) was 0. 80. Furthermore, after determining the location of the 15 FOREST fire points on the MAP of potential fire hazard, the results showed that 7 points located in the area were very high fire risk, and 6 points in the area with a high fire risk, and 2 points located in the area with a low fire hazard. Conclusion: According to the findings of this research, roads and rain reduction have a growing impact on the development of fire and natural FOREST fire managers need to adoption the necessary measures to better manage the FOREST and rangeland areas in these situations to prevent the occurrence or spread of fire.

This study was carried out in the Saravan FOREST Park in north of Iran. The sound level measurements were performed at 12 stations and at distances of 3, 100, 200, 400 and 1000 m from the sound source with three replicates, in the summer and in traffic hours from 10 AM to 2 PM an area without tree cover was selected as the control station. The results indicated that sound intensity at first distance (3 m) with the mean of 77. 81 decibel (dB) exceeds the national standard of Iran. In this study, the first significant decrease in the sound intensity was obtained at a distance of 100 m, with the highest reduction of 26 dB for station 10, while the lowest decrease was found at station 11 with 8 dB. In an overall summary, distances less than 200 m are not suitable for tourism accommodation. The average sound intensity at distances in comparison with the permissible value indicate that the park does not currently have any noise pollution at more than 200 m in summer.

FOREST harvesting by cutting off the nutrient cycling processes affects the water quality causes the soluble nutrients in the plant to be washed out and flowing through the soil to the river. The type and method of harvesting are important factors in the amount of nutrients get out from the area. The present study aims at investigating the effect of FOREST harvesting on runoff quality components in plot scale (2m*1m) with four replicates in tow slope scale (0-20%, 20-40%) in the northern FORESTs of Iran during December 2014, December 2015. The rain depth was measured by using a rain gauge installed in the study area. Statistical analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of FOREST harvesting on water quality. Samples were analyzed for EC, TDS, pH, anions (Chlorine, sulfate, bicarbonate) and cations (Calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium). Kruskal-Wallis Test at 0. 01 significance levels was used. The results of the study showed that there was significant effects of FOREST cover and slope (P <0. 01) on EC, TDS, anions and cations among four sites (without logging, under logging selective cutting, without canopy cover and skid trail). Spearman correlation coefficients between anions and cations were determined. There was significant correlation between Calcium, magnesium at 0. 01 levels and sodium, potassium at 0. 05 levels of four sites. An attempt has been made to develop the linear equations among cations parameters. The usefulness of these linear regression equations in predicting the water quality is an approach, which can be applied in any other locations. The main disturbance features of FOREST harvesting are the changes in vegetation characteristics that reduce the rainfall and protect soil and water. Management approaches such as application of precise harvesting can effectively protect the soil and stream water quality.

Background and objectives: One of the best strategies to identify suitable tree species effect on the circulation of nutrients in the soil and plants as well as the carbon cycle is soil quality and quantity study of soil nutrients. To achieve this goal, three types of poplar cover and pine FORESTs cover in the safrabsteh region of Gilan were selected.Materials and methods: FOREST's cover was actually studied together. Each type of FOREST cover was divided into three parts while each part was as a repeater. With each repeat, a profile was dug to a depth of one meter and soil samples were taken from various depths. Some chemical properties of the soil and the amount of nutrients absorbable (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) were measured in triplicate under each cover.Results: The results showed that the amounts of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous coating on the cover of poplar P. deltoides 77.51 was the highest amount but the potassium in the control sample was greater than the size of the whole three. Low intake of essential elements, especially iron and copper in soil under poplar coverage P. deltoides 77.51 and p. caspica had the highest and lowest amount, respectively. The amount of carbon sequestration in soil in the coverage of Populus deltoides M.77.5, was 71.85 tons per hectare, which was more than any other coverage. Except for for the calcium and magnesium the rest of the elements from the surface to the depth had a significant decrease that these differences in some elements, such as potassium were low and in organic carbon was high.Conclusion: On the other hand, the amount of organic material in soil nitrogen and phosphorus cause increased coverage. Increase the amount of phosphorus in iron and copper can be reduced. Coverage attracted. Covered by deciduous conifers Taxodium distichum compared with covered fir nutrients and organic carbon stored in the soil is considerably more than other cases in the soil, even more than the other cases. Chemical properties and quality of the nutrient in the coverages showed that FOREST plantations with Populus deltoides M.77.5 was more efficient than Populus euramericana I-214

Road is one of the most important and obvious extractable feature in satellite imagery. Automatic road extraction from satellite imagery has many advantages such as updating data bases by spending less time and cost. The aim of present research is the automatic extraction of FOREST roads MAP using Liss_IV sensor imagery of IRS_P6 satellite. Because of frequent irregular objects in FOREST, roads are very complicated for extracting automatically. Therefore, the designed methodology for this research was in a way that can deal with this problem. For this aim, image of the study area was classified into two road and non road areas by a fuzzy logic. Then, morphological mathematic algorithm was used to extract the existed roads. By this method, FOREST roads MAP was extracted automatically with 88% overall accuracy. Also, morphological mathematic algorithm showed a great ability for recovering road line that was hidden or was cut off under FOREST canopy.

FOREST areas are among the most important natural and ecological resources on the Earth and are considered as one of the main pillars of sustainable development in any country. Fires ruins almost 5500 hectares of Iran‘ s FORESTs yearly. In this research, firstly, the fire points were identified using the fire data of FOREST Organization in combination with MODIS sensor data between 2012 and 2017. Due to the fact that more than 75% of fires were happened in the hot season of the year (June, July, and August), the data of the three months was used for modeling. Then, the effective parameters in fire occurring were evaluated and the dependent parameters were removed. Accordingly, two methods, including multiple linear regression and multivariate adaptive regression spline were studied to predict the fire risk. Some important parameters including the root-mean-square error (RMSE), R2, the correct estimation percentage of fire and non-fire points, and error distribution were used to evaluate. After modeling, it was found that the multivariate adaptive regression spline has better performance— where its RMSE of test data was 0. 1628, its R2 of test data was 0. 893, and its correct estimation percentage of test fire points and test non-fire points was near 94% and 88% respectively, as well as its error distribution was better than the other method...