A recovery plan, including modification of these riverways so that periodic small planned flooding could be practiced, would greatly augment the effects of biological control in allowing revegetation by desirable native plants. Biological control, even if highly successful, will not eliminate saltcedar but would greatly reduce its abundance and would allow for a substantial improvement in the other two factors. Only three main options are available for the recovery of the native plant communities and wildlife populations in riparian areas damaged by saltcedar. The first three methods are expensive and damage other non-target desirable plants, whose preservation is the objective of control. Manual control is effective and non-damaging but so expensive as to be practical only in small infestations.
All methods require repeated applications to control the rapid re-infestation by saltcedar.
Very large sums of money have been spent annually for many years to control a very small percent of the infested area, some of which is left barren for wildlife. The second option is to do nothing. This will allow the present intolerable situation to persist, and probably to continue the extinction of one species after another over time. In fact, to do nothing will probably allow the situation to continue to worsen, as is now happening. Areas in China long infested with saltcedar appear far more saline than infested areas of the United States, indicating that salinity levels here could become much worse if saltcedar remains.