The suboptimal management and utilization of water resources from the Asian water towers contributed to serious ecological crises in river basins along the arid Silk Road, such as the Aral Sea and the Heihe River in the 20th century. To improve the ecological resilience of the Ejina Oasis in the Heihe River downstream basin, the Chinese government implemented the 'Ecological water dispatching project' in 2000. However, it is still unclear what the optimal rational water allocation is for the sustainable development of economic, social, and ecological environments (so called triple bottom line) in these inland river basins. This study presents a decision-tree-based methodology for ecological monitoring and restoration strategies for Silk Road's oasis eco-system. Using Landsat TM/OLI data as well as meteorological, hydrological, and water utilization data, we show that similar to 69% of the originally degraded land has been restored since 2000. Previously dry tail-end lakes in the Heihe River downstream basin have been rejuvenated, and the precipitation has also significantly improved (rho = 0.047). We propose that the downstream water allocation should be no more than similar to 11 x 10(8) m(3) and that the optimal ratio between downstream and midstream allocation is 0.4-1.7. This study provides an excellent example for ecological monitoring and assessment in the optimization of strategies for the restoration of Silk Road's oasis eco-system.