Studying the possibility of forest ecotourism development using multi criteria evolution and geographic information system

This study aims at identifying the suitable areas for ecotourism using geographic information system (GIS) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in experimental and educational Kheyroud forest, Nowshar, Mazandaran province. The evaluation process was conducted based on three groups including ecological, infrastructural, and socio-economic criteria. Then, the indicators of each main groups were determined. The indicator maps of slope, elevation, aspect, temperature, soil, water resources, landscape, wildlife, vegetation cover (density and type), cow-pens, forestry plan and road were generated in geographical information system environment. The Analytical Hierarchy Process was used for weight determination of indicators. Finally, based on the weighted linear combination method, weighted layers of indicators were integrated in GIS environment and ecotourism suitability map was created. According to the results, slope and water resources indicators and soil and cowspens indicators showed the highest and lowest weights, respectively. In addition, the results of evaluation revealed that 0.17, 38.15, and 61.88 percent of the area have high, medium, and low suitability for ecotourism purposes, respectively. According to the ecological indicators and the development of infrastructural and socio-economic criteria, there is an extensive potential for ecotourism development in the Kheyroud forest