The objective of this study was to map, automatically, the permanent preservation areas and to identify land use conflicts in São Bartolomeu watershed, State of Minas Gerais Brazil. Using an Ikonos II orthoimage and geoprocessing resources, it was possible to map nine land use land cover classes through a visual interpretation. Automatic mapping of the permanent preservation areas based on the Brazilian forest code and the respective acts of CONAMA resulted in the identification of 1,530.67 protected areas, distributed in the following categories: along ridgelines (1,037.32 ha), steep slopes greater than 45 degrees (5.51 ha), spring-waters and their contribution areas (436.06 ha), riparian zones (325.96 ha) and on upper third of hilltops (27.96 ha). This areas specially protected corresponded to 54.15 % of the total basin, which is 2,826.83 ha. It was identified 905.14 ha (59.70 %) of protected areas being illegally in agricultural business, with pasture with 40.06% (613.12 ha) and coffee with 7.12 % (109.02 ha), the predominant classes.
Geoprocessing; Permanent preservation areas; Land use conflicts
