As a result of population growth and economic development, t he intensity of landuse has been in- creased greatly, which has had and continues to have a negative impact on environment, especially in the mou ntainous areas with fragile ecological environment.Unreasonable landuse in the mountainous areas has a negative impact on ecological environment and sustainable economic development.Taking Yongding dist rict of Zhangjiajie City Hu’nan Province for an example, this paper reveals land use changes and their effects on ecological environment in the mountainous area of Western Hu 'nan Province.Results indicate that, with the growt h of urban area, the construction area, containing residing area, mining area, and transportation area have been increasing continually, while the area and qualit y of cultivated land have been decreasing gradual- ly.A large amount of natural forest has been cut down, which weakens the ecological functions.Land use changes have enormously influenced the ecological environment, such as intensive soil erosion, worsening of t he water quality, and biodiversity loss.