Billings, MT Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)
Key Facts
- Enforcing agency
- Planning Division
- Citation
- BMC Sec. 27-1208(D)(1)
- Applies to
- required landscape plans, new development
- Adopted
- Ord. No. 21-5748 (Jan. 2021)
Summary
Billings' planning division keeps a prohibited plant list, and any species on it cannot be used in landscaping required for new development citywide.
The planning division shall maintain a suggested and prohibited plant list as necessary to identify plant material requirements or prohibitions within the city. Where a species is chosen for a landscape plan that is not identified on a city plant list, the applicant shall provide information about growth and spacing characteristics on the landscape plan. Plant information shall be taken from objective sources, including professional landscape organization websites or nursery cut sheets. Plant materials identified in any prohibited plant list may not be used in landscaping.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 66 Update 2).
Full Breakdown
Billings' landscaping code (BMC Sec. 27-1208) requires the planning division to maintain a suggested-and-prohibited plant list identifying species barred from use in required landscaping. The rule applies wherever the Unified Development Code requires a landscape plan: new development, parking lots, bufferyards, and street frontage plantings under Article 27-1200. Any species named on the prohibited list may not appear in an approved landscape plan submitted for building permit review, so developers and landscape designers must check the current city plant list before specifying trees, shrubs, or ground cover for a project.
Violations & Fines
Landscape plans specifying a listed prohibited species are rejected during permit review by the planning division; the applicant must substitute an approved plant before the plan is approved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this ban invasive plants in existing yards?
Where is the current prohibited plant list published?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Billings
Compare Billings to another location·View the Montana invasive plant rules overview
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