This study is aimed at assessing the spatio-temporal changes of land use / land cover andrnidentifying land degradation area in the form of soil erosion in Bishan Guracha-Adilornsubcatcments. The three landsat images (1973, 1984 and 2000) were classified into fivernmajor land use / land cover classes based on supervised classification of 2000 image.rnPost classification change detection among three classified images was conducted.rnAccordingly, classes classified as intensively cultivated and degraded / barren lands werernexpanding in areal coverage at the expense of others. However, moderately cultivated,rnwood and grazing lands of the study area became reduced in size in the time span of 1973rnto 2000. On the other hand, NDVI images analysis comparison also done to look into thernvegetation/ land cover degradation or change between 1984 and 2000 images, its resultrnimplies a decline in land cover taking the standard deviation variation in to account.rnUniversal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) model was used for estimation of soil erosionrnamount by computing each input mostly on the basis of the adapted methodology of thernprevious researches for Ethiopian highlands. The estimated annual soil loss for the studyrnarea ranges from 0.02 to 133.2 t/ha/yr. These values were classified in to six classes orrndegree of soil erosion depending on the calculated soil erosion amount. Of which the lastrnclass having greater than 30 t/ha/yr, which is 2470 ha (6%) is considered to be as priorityrn(spot) zone of the study area. In contrary, about 86% of the study area experiences annualrnsoil loss less than 10 t/ha/yr. The estimated annual soil loss was evaluated against landrnuse/ land covers classes, slope gradient and drainage density. Slope gradient and drainagerndensity have got positive relationship with soil loss but land use / land covers did notrnshow distinct pattern of relationship with that of the estimated annual soil loss of thernstudy area. In connection with the two-subcatchmentsâ€™ more vulnerability to estimatedrnannual soil loss, comparison has been made by considering areal size being exposed torndifferent degree of the annual soil loss. This could result in making Bishan Guracha Riverrnsubcatchment as more vulnerable to high soil erosion by taking its large percentage ofrnarea under greater than 30 t/ha/yr.rnKey words: Land degradation (soil erosion), USLE, post classification change detection,rnland use/ land cover classes, estimated annual soil loss.