Effectiveness of Watershed Management Systems on Agricultural Practices in Tehran Province's Hableroud Basin

Evaluating the effectiveness of watershed management systems is considered as a scientific criterion for their valuation. This study has been conducted to identify the impacts of stabilizing the administration of watershed systems in Tehran province's Hableroud basin (including eight pilot study villages within Damavand and Firuzkouh towns). The study has been conducted using a document-based and survey method by completing the questionnaire. The sample for this study consists of the families living in the above-mentioned villages, whose houses are located in the Hableroud basin. A questionnaire has been used to gather data from study participants, which has been completed in person after confirming its reliability and validity. The results from extracting questionnaire data and information regarding the effectiveness of watershed management system administration have been analyzed both descriptively by considering demographic information such as age, education, job (farmer, rancher, farmergardener, farmer-rancher, and freelancer) and inferentially using SPSS software and dependent variables including economic and environmental indices which have been all assessed through six items. The results illustrate that the mean for environmental and economic impacts of Hableroud basin's watershed management systems in Tehran province are 3.25 and 2.67 respectively, denoting "quite high" and "quite average" success condition of the implemented watershed management systems. It can be concluded that all implemented watershed management systems are more successful in the environmental domain rather than an economic one. Besides, transforming the dry farms into the garden, recent practices for flood prevention, vegetation strengthening, and increasing public cooperation are among the most significant impacts of these systems in both environmental and economic domains.