Abstract: Land use/cover change is the most direct expression of the influence of human activities on the ecosystem. The change of land use will cause the fragmentation,degradation and even disappearance of the habitat patches,which will directly affect the quality of the habitat in a region. Based on an analysis of the land use change from 1986 to 2016 in Qilian mountain areas in the upper reaches of Shiyang River,this paper evaluates its habitat quality. The results show that the main land use types in the upper reaches of the Shiyang River are grassland,woodland and unused land,the main habitat degradation types are non-obvious degradation and slight degradation,and most of the areas are medium or above habitat types,mainly in the west and south. From 1986 to 2000,the area of degraded habitat and the area of poor habitat quality in the upper reaches of Shiyang River increases,but the rate of increase gradually slows down,and the area of good habitat types increased after 2000. Therefore,the habitat quality in the upper reaches of the Shiyang River has a tendency to develop in a good direction.