Land space underpins an ecological civilization. A thorough grasp of regional natural resources and subsequent optimization of the ecological security pattern are both essential for the comprehensive development and overall planning of the management of natural resources. In this study, we established and optimized the ecological security pattern in Shaanxi Province, China. Landscape patches distinguished by high importance of ecosystem services (carbon fixation and oxygen release, water conservation, habitat maintenance, and soil conservation) and high sensitivity of ecological environment to human interference (ecological sensitivity index) were extracted as ecological sources. An ecological resistance surface was built based on the following resistance factors: land-use type, topographic position index, and soil erosion intensity. A minimum cumulative resistance model was used to identify ecological corridors. Our results showed that those ecological sources with high to extreme ecological importance and sensitivity together covered an area of 67,457 km² (32.8% of the total land area of Shaanxi Province). A total of 32 ecological nodes were identified at the center of important ecological sources to serve as main areas for implementing ecological protection projects. In addition, 72 ecological corridors were identified, towards which efforts should be targeted to maintain their functions for the inter-connection and serial connection of ecological nodes and source patches. The ecological corridors create favorable habitats for wildlife and superior spaces for ecological migration based on the blue and green linear corridor system. According to these findings, we propose establishing an ecological security pattern featuring “two barriers, three belts, and multiple corridors” in Shaanxi Province and that the green ecological security barriers should be strengthened based on their natural background and resource endowments.

Linear cultural heritage—a heritage system spanning time and space—is a large-scale cultural settlement that accommodates various heritage types. Here, we comprehensively explored the Straight Road (Zhidao) of the Qin Dynasty in Shaanxi Province, China, as a gene of traditional cultural connotations and geographical features, and provided holistic conservation strategies and effective utilization paths. From an ecological security pattern perspective, 4399.89 km² of ecological sources and 19 ecological nodes were identified based on the importance of four ecosystem services—carbon sequestration and oxygen release, water conservation, habitat maintenance, and soil retention. Then, 45 ecological corridors with a total length of 2938.49 km were determined using the minimum cumulative resistance model. The intersections of ecological corridors were distinguished and the key areas of cultural landscape construction were extracted by taking into account the spatial distribution of existing relics as well as the spatial network relationship of prohibited-development areas and existing gray corridors (roads), blue corridors (rivers), and green ecological corridors (shade zones, green belts, recreational greenways). A plan was proposed to construct 98.45 km² of new parks (country parks: 28.38 km², forest parks: 70.07 km²) and 101.26 km of new landscape corridors (urban type: 32.08 km, countryside type: 26.49 km, ecological type: 42.69 km). Multilevel landscape complexes should be built to form a functional and networked ecological–cultural spatial structure system. Findings of this study could provide ecological ideas for promoting the reservation and active utilization of linear cultural-heritage corridors on a regional scale.