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Grazing by black-tailed prairie dogs can increase bare soil exposure, reduce perennial grass cover and increase the relative abundance of annual forbs.  State and transition models for many regions in the western Great Plains suggest that such conditions will not transition back to a perennial grass-dominated state without long-term (>40 year) prescribed grazing.  We examined vegetation dynamics on sites with varying histories of prairie dog occupancy (1-2 yrs, 3-4 yrs, 5-6 yrs and >7 years with prairie dogs present), where prairie dogs were subsequently removed by epizootic plague and sites were grazed by cattle at season-long, moderate stocking rates.  In the first growing season without prairie dogs, bare soil exposure differed substantially among sites occupied for >=7yrs (45.6 + 3.1%), sites occupied for the previous 5-6 yrs (31+2.6%) and sites with 4 or less years of prior occupancy (23.4+3.0%).  However, bare soil at sites with >=5 yrs prior occupancy declined linearly over time during 2007 – 2011.  Conversely, length of prior prairie dog occupancy significantly influenced cover of perennial C4 grasses at the time of prairie dog removal, but C4 grass cover in all age classes increased linearly at the same rate during 2007-2011.  Results indicate that although prairie dog grazing substantially altered plant community composition and cover, such effects are reversible within time frames relevant to rangeland managers and do not represent an alternative stable vegetation state.