Background: Soil erosion has always been one of the most severe problems challenging watersheds around the world, mostly in Ethiopia. It is the major type of land degradation, resulting from a combination of natural and human activities.
The main purpose of this research is to demarcate a soil erosion-vulnerable area for watershed planning and conservation plans in study area. In order to map erosion hotspot areas multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) technique combined with GIS was used. Based on a conversation with local specialists, as well as the topography of the area and the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil types found in the study area, six major factors: and use, soil, slope, rainfall, Topographic Wetness Index (TWI), and Stream Power Index (SPI) were considered. Each factor was reclassified based on sensitivity classes. These reclassified factors overlaid using the ArcGIS 10.7 weighted overlay analysis tool and produce the final soil erosion source area map of study area.
Results: The final findings indicated that 11.18% of the entire watershed area was highly sensitive, 82.93% was moderately sensitive, 4.64% was low, and 1.25% was very susceptible to soil erosion.
Conclusion: Based on these findings, we can conclude that the majority of the investigated region was moderate to high risk, and most of the soil erosion-susceptible areas were found in the northern, eastern, and north-eastern parts of the watershed, which need suitable plans to conserve water and soil to reduce the disturbing issue of soil loss.