Unfortunately, the full extent of our knowledge on livestock grazing, either riparian or upland is not being implemented for various reasons. More work needs to be done on the use of livestock to meet specific landscape goals. The invasion of exotic plant species is the single biggest risk to ecological integrity of the ecoregion. Some exotics, like cheatgrass, medusahead, whitetop, and dalmation toadflax are firmly established in portions of the ecoregion. These plants are responsible for such things as a replacement of natives, altered fire cycles and decreased biodiversity.
Disturbance is a natural part of much of the ecoregion.
However, with disturbance comes the opportunity for weed invasion. As a new species invades, little recogntion is given to the problem until the acreage is large enough to be untreatable. Well-defined weed control programs for public and private land need to be established. Herbicides have been the tool of choice for weed control. Two areas of needed research are the ecology of weed invasion and alternative methods of control.