In this paper, landscape ecological risk in Qinling Mountain was studied. Using the remote sensing images of Landsat TM and DEM data in 1984, 2000, 2005, and 2014, an ecological risk assessment model was constructed, and landscape ecological risk indexes were calculated for four time periods 1984, 2004, 2005 and 2014. The spatial distribution of ecological risk was obtained with ArcGIS and geostatistics, and changes in the landscape patterns and spatiotemporal characteristics of ecological risk were analysed. As shown in the results; (a) from 1984 to 2014, the landscape pattern index of Qinling forest area was relatively stable; fragmentation and segregation decreased, and dominance and area increased. The fragmentation and separation of cultivated land increased over time, and the geographical distribution of cultivated land diversified, while its dominance decreased. (b) The areas of extremely low and extremely high ecological risk level in the study area is gradually reduced. But the area of high ecological risk level increased obviously. The extremely high ecological risk area was mainly distributed in the middle and south‐eastern regions. The extremely low and low risk areas were mainly distributed in the low hilly areas of northern Qinling.