ASSESSMENT OF LAND USE LAND COVER CHANGE AND LAND USE DYNAMICS OF MICRO WATERSHED- A CASE STUDY OF ASIGANGA WATERSHED IN UTTARAKHAND.

Micro watersheds in Himalayas are the fulcrum of rural mountain economy since native people are directly depended on them for their livelihood and wellbeing. They are also integral to global water resource pool and functioning of the ecosystem. Asi Ganga watershed is one of the significant watersheds located in Uttarkashi region of Uttarakhand. The areal extends is of 189 sq. kms covering 9 villages located along the Asi Ganga Water channel. The study tries to analyse the land use land cover changes in the watershed along the period of 20 years from 1996 to 2016 and existing land use practices in the region. Landsat and Google Earth data has been collected for temporal analysis of the area. Anderson?s land use land cover classification technique has been applied for change detection analysis of the area. Eighty Seven (87%) of the total area was under forest cover in 1996 which reduced to 82% in 2016, showing a decline of 6%. The mere 4.2% of agricultural area has also reduced to 2.6 in the past 2 decades especially after the flash floods of 2012 in Uttarkashi, which eroded the agricultural fields located along the Asi ganga water channel.