Ecosystem Health Assessment and Zoning at the County Scale: Evidence from Fujian, Southern China’s Key Forest Region

Investigating the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of regional ecosystem health and the methods for optimizing their zoning is essential for enhancing ecosystem management and sustainable development. This study takes Fujian Province, a pivotal forest region in southern China, as the research object to establish a county-level ecosystem health evaluation framework grounded in the vitality–organization–resilience–ecosystem (VORS) model. It further conducts a comprehensive spatial–temporal analysis of ecosystem health dynamics from 2000 to 2020 and explores ecological management zoning and optimization strategies. The results indicate that (1) from 2000 to 2020, the overall ecosystem health level in Fujian Province maintained a relatively high status and exhibited a steady upward trajectory, with the index rising from 0.4694 in 2000 to 0.4762 in 2010, and further increasing to 0.4865 in 2020. (2) The health of ecosystems in Fujian exhibits significant geographical autocorrelation and aggregation, characterized mostly by high–high and low–low clusters. Typically, it has a geographical distribution characterized by elevated values in the northwest and diminished values in the southeast. (3) In light of the present condition and temporal dynamics of ecosystem health, the study classifies Fujian’s counties into three ecological management categories—conservation, stabilization, and reshaping zones—and puts forward tailored optimization measures for each region. The methodology employed in this study provides a general framework for ecosystem health assessment, which can offer useful references and insights for forest ecosystem health evaluation and refined, zone-specific ecological management in forest regions.