Technical Abstract: Over much of the western United States, stream incision has resulted in lowered water tables and encroachment of sagebrush into riparian areas formerly dominated by meadow ecosystems. Prescribed burning was evaluated as mechanism to restore dry meadows. We studied the influence of fall (Oct. 1996) prescribed burning on soil enzyme activities, total soil C and N, extractable soil nutrients, and post-fire vegetation recruitment, growth, and nutrient content. As compared to unburned controls, prescribed burning: i) increased aaqueous-extractable SO4-2, K+, and KCI-extractable NH4+, ii) decreased activities of the enzymes asparaginase, urease and acid-phosphatase, and iii) decreased KCI-extractable NO3- and ortho-P. The depth of influence was largely limited to 5cm. Per unit area biomass of Lupinus argenteus (three years following the prescribed burned) was significantly greater on a prescribed burned site compared to its unburned control; while per unit area of Carex douglasii increased only on burned subcanopies. Tissue concentrations of macro-nutrients were generally far less for plants growing on the prescribed burned plot than on the control plot. Greater vegetative growth on prescribed burned plots may be explained by a combination of enhanced late season soil water availability and reduced competition from sagebrush.