Land Use/Land Cover Dynamics in Hulet Wogedamea Kebele, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

The objective of the study was to evaluate the land use/land cover dynamics of Hulet Wogedamea Kebele, Northern Ethiopia. Landsat 5 TM 1985 and Landsat 7 ETM+ 2011 were used for the study. Global positioning system and topographical maps of scale 1:50,000 for ground verification; field observations to take ground control points; 20 farming household’s interview to get additional information; ERDAS Imagine 9.1 and ArcGIS 9.3 software for satellite image processing and data analysis were used. The collected data was analyzed mainly using quantitative method. However, results of farming household’s interview were discussed in line with the quantitative data. The result reveled that there was an expansion of cultivated land and degraded land by 12.8 and 2.58 ha per year respectively from 1985 to 2011 at the expense of forest, shrub and grazing lands. Thus, proper cultivation of the land with appropriate implementation of soil fertility management measures and afforestation and reforestation activities are recommended.