Coeur d'Alene, ID Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Chapter 8.08 of the Coeur d'Alene Municipal Code is titled Weed Abatement, and its definitions section is where the City Council says which plants count. A weed is any plant that is valueless and growing wild, any noxious weed as defined in Idaho Code section 22-2402, and offensive uncultivated vegetation. Trees, bushes and other plants grown for ornamental or utilitarian purposes are carved out of the definition. The chapter does not print a species list of its own. It borrows the state definition of a noxious weed and leaves the remaining judgment to the phrase offensive uncultivated vegetation.

The same definitions section covers a second plant category, the nuisance tree or bush. That is a large, woody perennial plant allowed to grow so that it obscures a traffic visibility triangle or a traffic sign, or encroaches into a public right of way and creates a hazard for people using it. A dead or dying tree or bush that creates a hazard to public safety or public property also counts.

Section 8.08.020 turns the definitions into a duty. It is a violation for the owner or occupant of real property to allow the uncontrolled growth or accumulation of weeds, grasses or vegetation over eight inches in height, and the duty extends to a planting strip abutting the property. The owner of real property is ultimately responsible. The chief of police or a designee inspects and issues the notice under sections 8.08.030 and 8.08.040. After notice the owner or occupant has five days to cut, trim or remove the growth, and one or more extensions can be granted for good cause. Section 8.08.080 lets the city do the work itself and bill the owner. Nothing in the chapter stops the city from acting on conditions that are a nuisance under Idaho Code.