Land degradation and soil erosion are major problems of Ethiopian highlands. Itrnis estimated that 1.5 billion tones of soil is being eroded every year in Ethiopia. Inrnsome parts of the highlands the erosion rate reaches up to 300 t/ha/yr, which isrnbeyond tolerable condition.rnThis study is intended to assess the spatial distribution of soil erosion risk inrnKetar catchment, part of Ziwayâ€“Shala basin using GIS and the Universal SoilrnLoss Equation (USLE). In addition to this, the distribution of gullies andrnpopulation in each weredas, and livestock data in the zone were compared withrnthe resulting soil erosion map.rnA set of the six factors necessary for the USLE model were studied andrngenerated. These include Rainfall Erosivity factor (R), Soil Erodibility factor (K),rnSlope Gradient factor (S), Slope Length factor (L), Crop and Management factorrn(C) and Conservation Practice factor (P). Each parameter, which consists of a setrnof logically related geographic features and attributes, is used as input data forrnthe model analysis.rnThe analysis of 4 years mean annual rainfall of 9 metrological stations give the Rfactor.rnK-factor was assigned for the soil types in the area obtained from the soilrnmap of ETHIOGIS data sets and other soil map of the area. Digital ElevationrnModel (DEM), derived from topographic contours, was used to generate thernslope map and, from the slope map S-factor and L-factor were generated. Landrnuse/land cover, extracted from Landsat ETM+ with field checking, was used torndetermine the C-factor and P-factor values.rnEach of the above analyzed USLE factors, were rasterized to create six gridrnlayers. Multiplication overlay on these six layers produces the resultant soilrnerosion (loss) map; each cell of the input grid layers has equal area (100m xrn100m) The USLE model calculation applied on the six input grid maps gave values ofrnthe soil erosion (loss) map in t/ha/yr. Values of the out put map were againrngrouped in to 6 erosion classes of < 4.71, 4.71-9.42, 9.42-28.56, 28.56-rn51.83,51.83-98.94 and > 98.94 t/ha/yr. High erosion classes concentrate in arearnwhere the slope gradient and length factors are high. The resulting map alsornshowed that 96.81% of the area has a soil erosion rate of less than 9.42 t/ha/yr,rnwhich is less than the rate of soil formation. This value shows that much of thernarea is currently in tolerable condition. The field checking of the study arearnrevealed that gully formation is in early stage.rnTo evaluate the effects of population and livestock growth on the rate of erosion,rnboth data were checked relative to the erosion map, woreda and zone levelsrnrespectively. The result confirmed that both data are increasing, which have greatrnimpact on the rate of soil erosion. So some measures and strategies should berndesigned to reduce their effects on the soil erosion rate. Finally, this studyrnshowed that, the effectiveness of the application of GIS and remote sensing inrnmodeling soil erosion.rnKey words: Ketar, DEM, GIS, Land degradation, Soil loss (erosion), USLE