Location

‘Aliabad Chehelgazi’ is located in Iran-Yazd-Mehriz.

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‘Aliabad Chehelgazi’ is a well-known name for old hunters and nature lovers. Its mountains have been the center of attention for local and foreign hunters because of the variety of the wild herbivores living in the area. This area shows a unique sight of the variety of biological types of Iran’s central plateau along with its plains and meadows and foothills. Like other biological parameters of Iran-Touran, the area’s biological variety is considered according to dry and semi dry ecosystems of the central plateau of Iran. The importance of this ecosystem can be seen well in this view.
From biological aspect, Aliabad area is a part of Iran-Touran habitat with other habitats penetrating from its south. The variety of heights and consequently precipitation has formed different small climates in this very small area. The variety is unique considering the extent of the area. Looking at the area from north – from Tangechenar and Kalmand mount, we will face heights like Tangechenar, Godar-e-Sabz mount, and Samery that have about 2700 meters height and are a better habitat because of having more precipitation and have the most population of wild goats. These mountains that are about 10 kilometers long in the direction of northwest-southeast, have many valleys and rocks that are good shelters for the wild goat and this has made good conditions for panthers as the biggest carnivorous animal of the central plateau of Iran. Partridge and wildcat are other habitants of this area. Regardless of these typical types, the presence of honey badger in the extreme part of the southeast of this area is very wonderful. Passing these heights toward the south, we face vast plains that are good habitat for Houbara bustard and Iranian Ground-jay, because of the plants like Artemisia commutate and Zygophyllum. These two rare types, have raised the value of this area especially because their proliferation is repeatedly documented by guards.
In the west parts of the area near Kamarsefid and Tal-e-Khorus, there are foothills and plains covered with rhubarb, which make fabulous sights especially in the spring. And in the southern parts of the area like Bazargan mount and Chahmil mount, in addition to wild goat, there are valuable types like the wild sheep Ovis Orientalis and caracal. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Aliabad private protected wildlife area has another of the remarkable types of Iran plains called ‘goitered gazelle’ that if the protection is continued and cattle grazing is controlled, this valuable type can be in its best conditions. There is a small group of gazelles in areas near farmlands of Fahabad and Abdolahabad and the relation between this very small group and the gazelles living in the west of Kalmand, is certain and this gene exchange thus, guarantees the desirable gene diversity for making a big natural population. So, Aliabad can be defined as an area with different types of mountains, foothills, and plains that contains valuable mixture of rare animals and different plant types of the central plateau of Iran, and in the case of controlling cattle grazing, that is the most important problem in the area and also suitable physical protection of the area, we can expect good improvements in a short span of time.

Aliabad Chehelgazi private protected wildlife area is located at 54° 17’ to 54° 34’ E longitude and 31° 1’ to 31° 23’ N latitude in Mehriz city of Yazd. Geographically it is located at 60 kilometers in the south of Yazd, 30 kilometers in the southwest of Mehriz, in the north of Khatam, and southwest of Kalmand protected area in Bahadoran.

Access way

The main access route to the protected area from Mehriz is the main asphalt road from Mehriz to Khatam. There are several sandy roads inside the area which make access to most parts of the private protected area. The nearest villages are – Aliabad and Tangechenar while the nearest rural area is the Mehriz. An Airport and train station is located 60 kilometers from this area. The distance between Yazd to Mehriz is about 30 kilometers (highway) and the private protected wildlife area is also 30 kilometers far from Mehriz.

Geology

Aliabad Chehelgazi protected area is located in central Iran that has its own complexity. The oldest formation of the area is from Paleozoic named Jamal formation. Cretaceous sediments are spread through the area and are formed by different formations. Sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks are found in the area but generally sedimentary rocks like lime, sand, shale, marl, and evaporate deposits are to be found more than igneous and metamorphic rocks. Igneous rocks of this area are granite, basic and intermediate dykes, and metamorphic rocks are similar to marble.

Vegetation

Topographic condition (variety of ups and downs, high altitudes and vast plains) of the area has led to the creation of several habitats. On the first look it seems that big sagebrush (Artemisia) has covered the main parts of the area, but after careful examination of the vegetation it is found that because of the ecologic conditions of the area, there exist various types of plants with different features like trees, shrubs, bush, cushion types, lithophytes, and halophytes along with poaceae and medical plants.

According to the classification of Iran vegetation society and regarding weather subdivisions, this area is a part of Iran-Touran area. Major plants of the area are sagebrush, zygophyllum, Haloxylon, Tamarixsp, pistacia khinjuk, amygdalusscoparia, cumin, Dorema ammoniacum, ficusjuhannisboiss, astrogalusspp etc., below is a list of some of the plants of the area.

Animal species

With a variety of height spectrum like plains and mountains, Aliabad has good stable conditions for the growth of different types of vegetation and animals. Since most parts of the area are covered with mountains and plains, the animals related to these areas are found the most like the wild goat, panther, partridge, see-see partridge in the mountain habitats and gazelle, bustard, ground jay, and sand grouse in plain habitats. There are a few numbers of wild goats on mountain habitats like Chaharkamari, Shekargah, Godarbagh, Kamar Anjir, and Sameri, because of topographic feature of the area and natural shelters. These mountain shelters make good habitats for the panthers because of availability of adequate food