The terrestrial ecosystem plays an important role in maintaining the structure, function, and environment of earth systems, and therefore, human survival. Fractional vegetation cover (FVC) is an important indicator of ecological changes in the environment, and an important spatial parameter of land surface vegetation status for various ecological models. It is very important to estimate the changes and patterns of FVC within the fragile ecological system of the Minjiang River, which is located in a transition zone between the Tibetan Plateau and Sichuan basin. FVC information in the arid valley of the Minjiang River was extracted from remote sensing data, DEM, and GIS technology following the dimidiate pixel model. The differentiation characteristics of the spatial and temporal dynamic patterns of FVC, vegetation damage caused by the Wenchuan earthquake, vegetation restoration, elevation, slope, and aspect were also quantitatively studied. The results showed that:(1) the vegetation coverage was generally good during the study period; there were variations in levels of FVC, and the FVC in most areas was above medium and high levels. The overall spatial pattern showed reduced FVC on either side of the Longmen Mountains, in eastern Wenchuan County, and northwestern Dujiangyan City. The FVC change tended to increase first, then decrease with increasing elevation rendering. Above the lower levels, FVC was mainly distributed at elevations of 4331-4869 m, where the FVC decreased with increasing slope. More than 24% of the vegetation coverage was distributed in the area where the slope was less than 9°; there was little or no vegetation coverage in areas where the slope was greater than 51°. The FVC also changed according to aspect. It was mainly distributed on the eastern, western, and southern slopes. (2) The area of vegetation damage caused by the Wenchuan earthquake was 63808.7 hm². Severe damage to vegetation occurred mainly within the range of 567-4331 m elevation, on slopes of 26-51°, with eastern, northern, southern, or western aspects. (3) After five years of natural regeneration, 17786.47 hm² of the destroyed areas were recovered. The recovered vegetation area occurred mainly across elevation ranges of 567-2180 m and 3256-3793 m, on slopes of <9° or 26-51°, and eastern, southeastern, and southern aspects. (4) The results also showed that elevation and slope had significantly larger effects than aspect on vegetation damage or restoration. Although there was a certain correlation between the vegetation damage and restoration, the change patterns were complicated. The results provided very useful information for decision-making and policy-planning in the region of the Minjiang River, from Wenchuan County to Dujiangyan City, after the Wenchuan earthquake. Although the natural vegetation recovery is a slow process, some of the areas with earthquake-induced damage can be restored to their original condition through natural succession. Human intervention may not be a good way to address natural vegetation recovery in this area. Thus, vegetation restoration mainly involves closing the areas to promote natural vegetation restoration, or adopting artificial forestation to restore vegetation in a small area.