Wetlands are uniquely natural complexes that result from the interaction between land and water, which are particularly sensitive to climate change and human activities, especially the different wetlands that are distributed around the arid areas in northwest China. Sediments deposited in natural wetlands provide continuous fossil records with a high time resolution for regional climatic change and the evolution process of local wetlands. Therefore, they have great advantages in revealing changes in regional ecological environment and interaction between human beings and climate and environment. Sporopollen is a reliable high-resolution environmental proxy that is widely used in the reconstruction of paleovegetation, paleoclimate, and paleoenvironment. Fossil pollen data from a 130 cm sediment profile collected in the Betula wetland of Habahe in Xinjiang of China indicated that the area has experienced five periods of change in terms of vegetation and human activity over the past 3600 years. The results indicate that desert plants such as Artemisia dominated the study area during the period 3540-3430 cal a BP and wetlands had not yet formed then. However, the local microclimate became more humid, while herbaceous plants and ferns such as Thelypteris palustris became abundant during the time Betula first appeared around 3430-2640 cal a BP. The shallow wetland began to develop and Betula expanded rapidly during the period 2640-660 cal a BP, however, desert vegetation such as Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia still thrived in the area. The area became a full wetland with Betula becoming dominant from 660-210 cal a BP. A decline in Betula and sharp increases in Chenopodiaceae pollen were evident in the pollen assemblages from the past 200 years, and were not only related to the drying of climate but also affected by the intensification of human activities, resulting in the reduction of birch plants and shrinkage of the wetland area. Moreover, high population growth during the period promoted the rapid development of animal husbandry and agriculture, thus breaking the balance between man and nature and leading to the further deterioration of the natural environment around the wetland. Therefore, by investigating the impact of environmental changes and human activity on typical local wetlands during different historical periods, this study revealed the changes of vegetation and environment in the Habahe region over the past 3600 years. This study contributes to the conservation of wetlands, biodiversity, and local ecological construction. In addition, it increases the knowledge on historical vegetation and human environmental changes that have occurred in this region.