There are a large number of grasslands in some nature reserves in China. Due to overgrazing, many nature reserves are facing problems such as reduction in grassland area and quality degradation. One of the important reasons is that lack of reasonable compensation standards, which leads to ineffective protection of the livelihoods of herders. Studying ecological compensation standards of returning grazing to grassland in nature reserves and improving the compensation mechanism are of great significance for improving the quality of the ecological environment of the grasslands and the livelihoods of herdsmen in China's nature reserves. Xianghai National Nature Reserve of Jilin is a typical representative of the grassland ecological environment damage in China's nature reserves. This paper took Xianghai National Nature Reserve as an example to establish a framework for ecological compensation standards for returning grazing land to grassland. The framework mainly included four aspects:(1) identifying the key influencing factors of the herdsmen's willingness of returning grazing land to grassland in nature reserves; (2) selecting the calculation methods of ecological compensation standards; (3) classifying the compensation objects according to the functional division, the grassland contracting and utilization in the nature reserve; and (4) specifying compensation standards for different objects and proposing standard priorities. The results showed that the key influencing factors of the herdsmen returning grazing land to grassland in the Xianghai National Nature Reserve included the education level, the proportion of farming population, the number of original livestock, and retired livestock. The optimal compensation standard for herdsmen who grazed in the core area and buffer area but not contracted grassland was 833.3 yuan sheep unit^-1 a^-1. The optimal compensation standard for herdsmen who grazed in the core area and buffer area and contracted grassland was 912.5 yuan sheep unit^-1 a^-1. The optimal compensation standard for herdsmen who contracted grassland in the core area and buffer area but not grazed is 120.0 yuan sheep unit^-1 a^-1. Comparing to the compensation standards for herdsmen in the core area and buffer area, the compensation standard for herdsmen in the experimental area should deduct the theoretical stock of the contracted grassland. It is recommended to improve the statistical system for the basic situation of herders, expand the source of compensation funds, innovate diversified compensation methods, and establish a dynamic compensation standard adjustment mechanism.