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Restoring vegetation in low rainfall areas is difficult and urges the need to design an effective and low-cost method of vegetation restoration. This study was undertaken in the lowlands of northern Ethiopia to: (1) investigate how exclosure age affects restoration of degraded native plant species richness, diversity and aboveground standing biomass, and (2) identify soil characteristics, which affect effectiveness of exclosures to restore degraded native vegetation. Replicated (n = 3) 5-, 10- and 15- year-old exclosures were selected and each exclosure was paired with an adjacent grazing land to detect changes in vegetation variables following establishing exclosures on communal grazing lands. All exclosures displayed higher species richness, diversity and aboveground biomass when compared to the adjacent grazing lands. Results on vegetation composition indicate that all exclosures are at early stage of succession. In all exclosures and grazing lands, vegetation variables displayed significant (p
