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The potential for disturbances to shift an ecosystem to an alternative ecological state is a primary concern of rangeland managers. In the Nebraska Sandhills, one of the largest contiguous grassland ecoregions remaining in North America, sandy textured soils are stabilized by fine root biomass from predominately warm-season grasses. Concern over the destabilization of the sand dunes has led to management approaches that seek to prevent disturbances, such as fire, that remove vegetation and expose bare ground. In 2012, the Sandhills experienced extreme drought conditions that coincided with the worst wildfire year on state record. This type of event is consistent with local concerns of the type of conditions needed to overcome the resilience of the Sandhills grassland to cause a lack of recovery of grassland vegetation and a loss of sand dune stability. To test this hypotheses, we assessed the recovery of aboveground grassland productivity at the Niobrara Valley Preserve following the Fairfield Creek Wildfire in burned areas compared to adjacent not burned areas. We also tracked changes in species composition to monitor any shifts in the plant community. Bison were not removed from the area and the drought continued for an additional six months following the wildfire. Two years following an extreme wildfire and drought event, grassland vegetation recovered rapidly, demonstrating the Sandhills grasslands are considerably more resilient than currently believed.