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How do we effectively rehabilitate land degraded by biological invasions? Many riparian areas on the Yellowstone River have converted to dense Russian olive stands, reducing agricultural value of these lands. To test if restoration is effective and necessary, Russian olive trees were removed from 1.9 ha site along the Yellowstone River in 2011, and a restoration planted in 2012. Four replicate 0.5 ha blocks were randomly allocated to one of 5 treatments; C –no re-vegetation, H - seeded herbaceous layer, S- herbaceous layer with planted shrubs, T- herbaceous layer with planted trees, and TS – herbaceous layer with planted trees and shrubs. Basal and canopy cover was measured in 2010 before Russian olive removal and in 2012-2014. Amount of bare ground and cover of annual brome, non-native forbs, and seeded species were analyzed using Proc Mixed (SAS 2009) with P<0.05 as our level of significance. Bare ground was low pre-removal and decreased over time after an initial spike caused by the intensive mechanical disturbance of tree removal. Bare ground averaging 8.8% (±4.5 SE) measured in 2014 was statistically indistinguishable from the average 3.1% (±4.5) that was measured pre-removal. Annual brome cover was greater in 2010 (32±3%) and 2014 (25±3%) and lowest in 2012 (15±3%), and abundance was greater in T (27±4%) and TS treatments (33±4%) and lowest for S (14±4%) treatments. Non-native forb cover was also influenced by treatment: C (33±3%) and H (32±3%) treatments had greater cover than TS (22±3%), S (20±3%), and T (19±3%) plots. Seeded herbaceous species established with cover 5 times higher in 2014 (28±2%) than 2012 (5.5±2%). After just two years since active restoration, the herbaceous seeding with planted shrubs had the lowest cover of undesirable forbs and annual bromes and highest cover of seeded herbaceous species.