[Objective] The research investigated the vegetation coverage status of ecological environment in the study area in order to provide scientific evidences for environmental protection and management.[Methods] Taken a Western Tianshan mountains forest, Huoheng forestry farm as study area, the research applied the normalized vegetation index to analyze the status of vegetation coverage and spatio-temporal variational characteristics based on remote sensing images of TM/OLI and DEM data in 1999, 2007 and 2016 years.[Results] In temporal aspect, the vegetation coverage of Huocheng forest were mainly of grade Ⅱ and grade Ⅲ. The two grades accounted for more than 55% of the total coverage and generally showed an increasing trend. In spatial distribution aspect, the vegetation coverage presented different distribution and variation characteristics due to the differences of altitude, slope and terrain factors. Vegetation coverage of area was relatively high at the districts with altitude from 1 500 to 2 000 m or from 2 000 to 2 500 m, or when slope is between 30° to 45°. Otherwise, the vegetation coverage was relatively low. The vegetation coverage had a rank on following slopes:shady > semi-shady > semi-sunny slope > sunny slope. When altitude was less than 1 500 m and slope was greater than 30°, the change trend of vegetation coverage was obviously. However, when altitude was greater than 2 500 m and slope was more steep than 45°, the change trend of vegetation coverage was less significant resulting from the influence of human activities.[Conclusion] During the period from 1999 to 2016, the vegetation coverage of Huocheng forest farm showed an overall upward trend in time. In terms of spatial distribution, there are different distribution and variation characteristics due to different terrain factors such as altitude, slope and slope direction.