China's Horquin area in the northern farming–pastoral transition zone is undergoing rapid land degradation and rangeland modification that is impacting far broader areas as the source of material for dust storms. Multi-temporal Landsat images of the Horquin core area were used to generate a time series of land use covering about a 30-year period, 1975–2003. We show that the physical environment in Horquin deteriorated between 1975 and 2000, although this situation was more controlled after 2000. The main driving forces of land use and land cover change (LUCC) appear not to be population growth and agricultural expansion but policy-relevant issues, including market distortions, unwise farming–pastoral management, and institutional uncertainty. Results suggest that planning for the recovery and rebuilding of the grassland natural ecological system is a viable option to control dust storms in northern China.