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Invasive species, like Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia�L.), readily prevail along riparian areas of arid ecosystems due in part to the high use of these areas and because of high invasive species seed output and reproductive success along waterways. Once established, Russian olive can reduce native plant cover and density, especially of species growing under its canopy. However, little is known about the effects of Russian olive management inputs, like plant removal, on riparian plant community succession in spatially diverse communities, like riverbanks. Our objectives were to evaluate how spatial heterogeneity of soils affects plant community structure throughout riparian areas and identify the effects of plant removal on plant community structure. Here we present the initial results of two studies completed along the Yellowstone River in the Northern Great Plains. We used JMP (JMP v.13, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) to partition data by foliar and basal plant cover and classify similar plant communities followed by a discriminant analysis to identify how these plant communities differed by soil properties, like texture and soil nutrient availability. This analysis revealed three distinct plant communities that exist along the Yellowstone River; Cottonwood, Russian olive closed canopy, and Russian olive open canopy (p<0.0001). Next we tracked these communities over three growing seasons following Russian olive removal (2014-2016). We identified that the succession of these communities were strongly driven by year (p<0.05), treatment (tree removal or control) (p<0.0001) and soil type (p<0.05). Specifically, the cover of invasive perennial grasses and native shrubs increased from 2014-2016 (p<0.0001), especially when trees were removed and in sandy soils (p<0.05); while the cover of native perennial grasses was non-significantly higher in clay soils (p=0.12). Based upon these results, we suggest that when Russian olive is removed in sandy soils, invasive perennial grasses should also be controlled at these sites.