The Afromontane forests of northern Ethiopia have been degraded and fragmented for centuries. Recently, efforts have been made to restore these forests by protecting them from livestock interference. In this study, the natural regeneration of Juniperus procera Hochst. ex Endl. and Olea europaea L. subsp cuspidata (Wall. ex G. Don) Cif. is investigated under protected conditions after 3 years of enclosure and under open management systems in a dry Afromontane forest in northern Ethiopia. Data on the floristic and structural compositions of the vascular plants were collected using 32 randomly selected plots (20 m × 20 m), while nested plots (10 m × 10 m) were used to investigate the seedling bank at the protected and adjacent open sites. The results reveal that there was a significantly higher regeneration of O. europaea on the protected site than on the open site (P  =  0.01). However, there was no significant difference between the 2 sites for J. procera (P  =  0.16). Thus, protecting the degraded forest in northern Ethiopia seems to be an appropriate management option for the regeneration of O. europaea. The regeneration status of J. procera at both sites is poor, which indicates that protecting the forest from livestock and human disturbance is unlikely to lead to regeneration of this species. Further investigation of other factors that hinder the regeneration of J. procera is therefore recommended.