Rapid, ongoing social and economic development and the increase in human selectiveness about their activities are challenging the provision of ecosystem services. This study investigated the upper reach of the Fenhe River watershed. Five ecosystem services (sediment retention, water yield, Net Primary Productivity [NPP] production, carbon sequestration and oxygen production [CSOP]) were analyzed along with grain production in 2000 and 2008. ArcGIS, CASA, and InVEST software were used to analyze remote sensing images, climatic and soil data, statistical data, and thematic maps. The human activity intensity analysis was based on population, residential site, and road network. An SPSS embedded canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was used to identify the physical and anthropogenic driving factors underlying the variations in ecosystem services. The results showed that between 2000 and 2008, sediment retention decreased by 43.30 t/hm² over 87.5% of the total area. The only exception was northern Ningwu County. Water yield increased by 4.74 t/hm² over 89.6% of the total area, and NPP production increased by 0.86 t/hm² over 93.7% of the total area. The only exceptions were small patches along the edges. The CSOP values had a pattern similar to the NPP values. They increased by 2.18 t/hm², but decreased in patches dotted along the edge areas. Grain production decreased by 15.65 kg/hm² over 65% of the total area. Human activity intensity (HAI) increased slightly from 0.19 in 2000 to 0.21 in 2008 and there was a low-north-high-south spatial pattern. HAI variations were positively correlated to variations in sediment retention and water yield (r=0.637^**, r=0.656^**, respectively). The CCA analysis showed that the main factor driving sediment retention is slope, whereas the main factors driving water yield are precipitation and temperature. The CCA for the difference between 2000 and 2008 showed that the physical factors of sun hours, relative humidity, and precipitation affected sediment retention and water yield, and that temperature and slope jointly affected the NPP and CSOP.