Results of assessment are presented for the relationship between the forest cover of small dry valleys and their spectral response through analysis of object data in the forest-steppe natural zone of the Central Chernozem region of Russia. The SWIR reflectance of small dry valleys is shown to be tightly correlated with the percentage of forest cover. The greater the forest cover, the lower the SWIR reflectance. A logistical dependence can be used to obtain spectral-response estimates for forest cover in the SWIR range. Spectral-response estimates are found for the forest cover of small dry valleys in the Central Russian forest steppe from Landsat data in the mid-1980s, early 2000s, and late 2010s. Recent decades have seen an increase in the forest-cover percentage of small dry valleys throughout most of the region. From the mid-1980s to 2018, the forest cover increased from 16 to 45%. During the study period, an increase is observed in intraregional differences in the forest cover of ravines. Currently, this indicator varies more significantly within the region than in the mid-1980s.