Modeling of Livestock Drinking Water Sources Capabilities Using GIS in Taleghan Region, Alborz Province

A primary uses from Iran rangelands is livestock grazing and the major livestock is sheep. Sheep grazing on the slopes above 60%, because of using a lot of energy for grazing operation, caused to not only reduces livestock performance but also increases the risk of erosion. Sheep grazing in an area where more than five kilometers away from water sources, due to the prolongation of the march route will reduce performance. Water point dispersion is one of the important factors in rangeland suitability determination. According to the above is required in each rangeland to determine suitability of water for livestock. The study area is located in 50˚ 36´ to 50˚ 53´ east longitude and 36˚ 05´ to 36˚ 19´ north latitude, in Taleghan (Alborz Province), with the area 37977 hectares. Data analysis was performed on the raster model using ILWIS software. Water sources model organize from Quantity of water, quality of water and accessibility to water points sub-models. Results of water sources suitability model showed that 19989 hectares of the area contained good suitability (S1), 1229 hectare classified as moderate suitability (S2), and 4338 hectare located in not usable (N) order, were not part of the Rangeland included low suitability (S3). The steep slope of the study area is the main limiting factor of sheep grazing suitability in the mountainous areas. Recommended in offering the solutions to reclamation and improvement of rangeland noted to decreasing and limiting factor of water sources suitability, and betterment actions to resoling the decreasing factor of rangeland suitability will be done. Keywords: Rangeland, Water source, Sheep, GIS.