Climate change will affect vegetation in West SALT LAKE CITY, UT (wpr) - A new study says climate change will likely shuffle some of the West's most troublesome invasive weeds, adding to the burden in some areas and providing opportunities for native plant restoration in others.

Princeton University researchers say a warming climate will provide more welcoming conditions for invasive plants to get a foothold, spread quickly and crowd out native species.

But the study says some invasives may retreat from parts of the West - at least briefly - and offer an opportunity for land managers to re-establish native plants.

Bethany Bradley, a biogeographer at Princeton and lead author on the study, says land managers ought to be ready for those brief periods to restore the landscape with native vegetation to keep invasives out.
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