JAPAN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGENCY (JICA) REPUBLIC OF TURKEY, MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTRY (MEF) THE MASTER PLAN STUDY ON PARTICIPATORY WATERSHED REHABILITATION IN CORUH RIVER IN THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY FINAL REPORT APPENDIX JANUARY, 2004 PACIFIC CONSULTANTS INTERNATIONAL RECS INTERNATIONAL INC. ExchangeRate (August, 2003) US$ 1.00 = TL 1,500,000 TL 1,000,000 = US$ 0.67 US$ 1.00 = Yen 120 THE MASTER PLAN STUDY ON PARTICIPATORY WATERSHED REHABILITATION IN CORUH RIVER IN THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY FINAL REPORT APPENDIX CONTENTS A Natural Conditions and Soil Conservation B Forest Resources and Forest Management C Socio-Economic Conditions D Agriculture E Livestock and Rangeland Management F Institution G Environmental Considerations H Remote Sensing and GIS I Project Monitoring and Evaluation J Micro-Catchment Planning and the Master Plan A. Natural Conditions and Soil Conservation CONTENTS A.1 INTRODUCTION A1.1 The Purpose of this Working Paper A- 1 A1.2 Field Studies A- 1 A1.3 Data Collection A- 2 A1.4 Responsible State Agencies A- 2 A1.5 Forest Villages and Soil Conservation A- 2 A.2 NATURAL CONDITIONS IN THE CORUH RIVER CATCHMENT A2.1 Topography A- 4 A2.2 Climate A- 8 A2.3 Geology A-12 A2.4 Hydrology A-17 A2.5 Soils A-20 A2.6 Land Capability A-27 A2.7 Soil Erosion A-29 A2.8 Correlations between Slopes, Geology, Soils, Land Capability and Soil Erosion in the Coruh River Catchment A-38 A2.9 Dams and Sedimentation A-41 A.3 ISSUES, POLICIES, STRATEGIES, MEASURES, CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOIL CONSERVATION IN THE CORUH RIVER CATCHMENT A3.1 Issues and Policies A-45 A3.2 Strategies A-48 A3.3 Measures for Implementation A-49 A3.4 Constraints and Opportunities for Soil Conservation A-50 A3.5 Soil Conservation and Landscape Rehabilitation A-51 A3.6 The Status of Soil Erosion in the Six Selected Micro-Catchments A-52 A.4 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF EFFECTIVE SOIL CONSERVATION A4.1 Causes and Impacts of Natural and Accelerated Soil Erosion A-67 A4.2 Soil Conservation Strategies: Control of Water Movement and Control of Plant Cover A-69 A4.3 Participation in Soil Conservation by Villagers A-70 A4.4 Erosion Control Measures A-74 A4.5 Objective Measurements of the Benefits of Erosion Control Measures A-74 A.5 LAND MANAGEMENT AND SOIL CONSERVATION A5.1 A Decision-Making Methodology for Rehabilitation of Soil Erosion in the Coruh River Catchment A-75 A5.2 Structures and Costs for Control and Rehabilitation of Soil Erosion A-82 A5.3 Rangeland Rehabilitation by Farmer Participation A-85 A5.4 The Sustainability of Interventions A-86 A.ANNEXES: A.ANNEX.1 Distribution of Slope Classes by Area (ha) and Percentage in MCs A.ANNEX.2 Geological Types by Area (km2) in each MC A.ANNEX.3 Geological Types by Percentage of each MC A.ANNEX.4 Main Soil Classes, Areas (km2) A.ANNEX.5 Main Soil Classes (Percentage of Area) A.ANNEX.6 Land Capability by Area (ha) A.ANNEX.7 Land Capability by Percentage of each MC A.ANNEX.8 Soil Erosion Areas (ha) and Percentage of each MC in the Four Erosion Classes A.1 INTRODUCTION A.1.1 The Purpose of this Working Paper This Working Paper presents and discusses information relevant to soil conservation in the Coruh River watershed (catchment). The natural conditions are first outlined (Section 2), leading to discussion of several significant issues and strategies for soil conservation in the catchment (Section 3). Section 4 presents some principles and practices for soil conservation which give useful guidelines when considering land management in relation to soil conservation (Section 5). The Working Paper is not intended to be a comprehensive report on all aspects of soil conservation in the Coruh River catchment, but it provides passages of text suitable for inclusion in the Master Plan. While the title of the Study is “The Master Plan Study on Participatory Watershed Rehabilitation in Coruh River in the Republic of Turkey”, it should be noted that in this Working Paper the following usage of the terms ‘watershed’ and ‘catchment’ is preferred by this Consultant and by counterpart officers from Orman Bakanligi: • a ‘watershed’ is, strictly speaking, the term used to denote the boundary of a catchment, and delineates the points or the line at which rain after falling may then flow either into the catchment under consideration, or into the adjacent catchment; • the Coruh River watershed (Turkish: Su Havzasi) represents the boundary of the entire catchment for the Coruh River, which is approximately 2 million hectares in area; • the Coruh River catchment has been divided into six Sub-Catchments (SCs) (Turkish: Alt Havza), ranging in area from about 180,000 to 652,000 hectares; and • the Coruh River catchment has been divided into 63 Micro-Catchments (MCs) (Turkish: Micro Havza), ranging in area from about 12,000 to as much as 80,000 hectares, but averaging 25,000-38,000 in each MC. A.1.2 Field Studies The Consultant, together with members of the Study Team, undertook field inspections and village discussions for approximately 3 weeks in and around the Coruh River catchment from 20 October to 9 November 2002, and approximately 6 weeks from 10 June to 18 July 2003. Numerous discussions were held with staff of several State agencies, of course including many staff of the MEF in several centres. Staff of the NGO TEMA explained their activities with five villages in the Bayburt area. The Consultant is very grateful to all these respondents for their assistance in explaining numerous aspects of soil conservation in the Coruh River catchment. A - 1 During the first mission, perhaps two-thirds of the entire Coruh River catchment was viewed from main and subsidiary roads. Several forest villages were visited and some exploratory discussions held. Numerous examples of erosion control activities were inspected and assessed. During the second mission, attention focused on the natural conditions in the selected 6 MCs. A.1.3 Data Collection Data in the form of published and unpublished reports, maps and tabular material has been collected from numerous sources in Ankara, Erzurum, Artvin, Bayburt and elsewhere. A wide range of maps of catchment attributes was prepared for processing in the GIS. The GIS produced several maps of individual attributes superimposed on the agreed catchment base map with its MCs, together with computer-derived tabulations of the areas and percentage proportions of those attributes according to their distribution among MCs. Numerous discussions with many people in a wide range of agencies and in the villages provided facts, opinions and guidance on soil conservation and related topics. The quality of the data and other information has been assessed and cross-checked where possible. A.1.4 Responsible State Agencies The Study Team has been working with the participation and assistance of counterpart officers from the General Directorate for Reforestation and Erosion Control in the MEF (AGM). AGM is the main State agency responsible for assessing and treating soil erosion in areas under its management within the Coruh River catchment. The State Water Works (DSI: Devlet Su Isleri) has prepared comprehensive plans for the development of hydraulic engineering structures (dams, tunnels, intakes and other structures) on the Coruh River and some of its tributaries, and this agency is vitally concerned about the possibility that the functional lifespan of such structures may be greatly reduced by the accumulation of suspended sediments and bedloads in the Coruh River and its tributaries. A.1.5 Forest Villages and Soil Conservation Many parts of the Coruh River catchment exhibit extremely steep slopes, and erodible rocks and soils. The catchment is subjected to very harsh climates. In most of the catchment the annual rainfall is low (<500 mm) and the rain tends to fall in short storms of high intensity. Winters are intensely cold, with heavy snow. In Summer the temperatures are relatively high and humidities and rainfall low, while in Spring heavy snowpacks can melt quickly to produce rapid runoff from poorly-protected soils with low infiltration rates, and consequently severe torrent flows down steep slopes. Therefore, in most of the Coruh River catchment it will always be difficult to maintain a self-sustaining ground cover of grasses and trees for erosion prevention, even in the absence of grazing and other pressures. A - 2 Under the prevailing natural conditions of climate, slopes, geology and soils, the natural (geologic) rates of erosion have always been and will remain high in much of the catchment. However, the high rates of natural erosion have been exacerbated during the past decades by very high rates of accelerated erosion in many places. Over many years, the forest villagers have cleared forests for fuelwood, animal fodder and timber, have over-grazed the rangelands and have converted rangelands to arable fields on steep slopes. They have been the major (but not the only) agents responsible for initiating and exacerbating accelerated soil erosion within many parts of the Coruh River catchment. In addition, the forest harvesting policies and practices of the Ministry may also have contributed to an unsustainable level of forest exploitation and consequent degradation of natural forest conditions and soils. Villagers have cleared forests in an attempt to obtain desperately needed arable land, although it is often of poor quality and high erodibility. Rangelands have been treated as “a common good” which supplies free grazing, even if this eventually results in soil degradation and low pasture productivity which seriously affect all the participants. Villagers have been forced by their poverty and their urgent needs for pastures and new arable land to exploit the natural resources without restraint and with little regard to the sustainability of their actions.