Brookhaven, NY Invasive Plant Rules: Bamboo Restrictions (2026)

Section 49-6A bars any owner, occupant, person, corporation or other entity from planting or installing "running bamboo" on any property, including one- and two-family residences, defining it as tropical or semi-tropical grasses with monopodial (leptomorph) rhizome systems and naming eight genera: Arundinaria, Chimonobambusa, Phyllostachys, Pleioblastus, Pseudosasa, Sasa, Sasaella, and Semiarundinaria. Subsection B goes further and covers bamboo already on a property, running or clumping alike (adding Bambusa, Dendrocalamus and Fargesia to the named genera), imposing a duty on the owner or occupant to confine it so it cannot encroach, spread, invade or intrude onto another property or right-of-way. If the Town finds a violation, § 49-6C requires written notice, personal or certified mail, giving at least 15 days to comply. Section 49-6D creates a rebuttable presumption: any bamboo found to have encroached onto another property or right-of-way is presumed to be "running bamboo" for enforcement purposes, shifting the burden to the property owner to show otherwise.