Tree removal alone appears sufficient to shift dominance from forest understory to grassland species. It is commonly assumed that fire is necessary to maintain the open nature of grasslands and meadows, and thus to restore systems invaded by trees. In systems in which fire is not a frequent form of natural disturbance, tree removal alone may be sufficient.

Alternative treatments may be as effective as prescribed fire, if they modify resource environments in ways that are beneficial to target species. In this system, tree removal appears to serve this function by exposing shade-dependent forest herbs to abiotic stresses and increasing light availability for meadow species.

The principal constraints to the recovery of meadow communities may be the proximity of seed sources and the ability of species to disperse to these newly opened environments.

Managers have substantial flexibility in selecting methods for treating residual fuels. Ultimately, decisions about fuel-reduction treatments may hinge more on operational or economic considerations than on ecological necessity.

Nevertheless, broadcast and pile burning involve tradeoffs. Broadcast burning is efficient at reducing fuels, but is contingent on weather conditions and containment costs can be high. Pile burning can be scheduled when fire risk and containment costs are low, but creating piles can be labor-intensive, and local scarring can be severe and persistent. In this system, however, burn scars healed quickly, aided by the soil-disturbing activities of gophers.

Early responses to tree removal suggest strong potential for restoration from a broad range of initial states, including those supporting century-old forests. Persistent increases in frequency and diversity of meadow species suggest that natural dispersal has and will continue to enrich the flora in these newly created openings.

The potential for recovery from a broad range of ecosystem states illustrates the importance of seed dispersal, aided by the fine-scale mosaic of meadow openings among forests which reduced distances to source populations.