The vegetation cover thickened, and open, sandy areas declined. Blowout penstemon soon was restricted to blowouts, the last remaining areas of bare sand. Range management in recent decades has further altered the vegetation of the Sandhills. Reduced grazing intensity and implementation of planned grazing systems have increased the total vegetative cover and led to a reduction in the number of blowouts. Grazing itself is seldom a problem for blowout penstemon.
Cattle eat the plant only infrequently if other forage is available.
Penstemon plants are sometimes eaten in pastures that receive heavy spring grazing, and heavy grazing for several consecutive years could reduce plant numbers. Blowout penstemon now remains only in a few sites where wind erosion has maintained active blowouts, a dynamic, relatively short-lived and now uncommon habitat. Further complicating the issue, most populations of blowout penstemon are now so isolated that there is little chance for seeds to migrate to new blowouts if they do form. Populations also are genetically isolated, and there is little chance for an influx of new genetic material into established populations through pollen from other populations. The recovery plan for the blowout penstemon calls for research on the life history, minimum genetically viable population size and management criteria for the species.