The water conservation service of headwaters of the Yangtze River is very important for ecological se-curity in China. It is generally acknowledged that the source of the Yangtze River includes the Tuotuohe headwa-ter, Dangqu headwater and Chumaerhe headwater. Based on the land cover dataset of middle and late 1970s, ear-ly 1990s, 2004 and 2008, this paper analyzed temporal and spatial change characteristics of land cover and eco-logical condition in headwaters of the Yangtze River over the past 30 years, using the method of direction and ex-tent of land cover change, land cover condition index and land cover change index. The results showed that grass-land was the main land cover type in this region in 2008, with a ratio of 66.93%in area. The glaciers were main-ly distributed in Tuotuohe headwater, while the marshland was mainly distributed in Dangqu headwater. The change rate of land cover condition index during 1970s-1990s, 1990s-2004 and 2004-2008 was-0.15,-0.24 and 0.01, respectively;while the land cover change index of three periods was-0.20,-0.66 and 0.08, respective-ly. The land cover and ecological condition of the study area had overall experienced a process of degenerated-obviously degenerated-slightly meliorated since 1970s. The mean annual temperature and precipitation from 2004 to 2008 was 0.57℃and 17.63mm higher than that from 1970s to 2004. Regional climate change over re-cent years was helpful for natural ecosystem recovery. In addition, implementation of the ecological protection and construction project since 2004 also had certain positive effects on vegetation restoration.