Eagan, MN Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Eagan City Code § 10.21, Subd. 5, titled City to control tree planting, makes it unlawful to plant any tree or seed of a prohibited species on any lot or land parcel where the species is not naturally occurring. The four banned species are female ginkgo, box elder, non-disease-resistant elm species, and nonhybrid cottonwood species, chosen because they are prone to weak wood, invasive seeding, or disease susceptibility that threatens the city's shade tree canopy. The same four species are separately barred from being introduced to public right-of-way or boulevard plantings under the city's landscaping standards in Sec.

11.70, Subd. 12, so a homeowner cannot plant them in the boulevard strip either. The rule reaches beyond raw planting: no area established as, or restored to, a managed natural landscape or woodland condition under Sec. 10.21, Subd. 3.C may contain any prohibited tree species, which means a property owner registering a native-plant landscape must exclude these trees from the design and remove any that appear. The definition of invasive species plant in Sec. 10.21, Subd. 2, which covers any non-native plant that spreads on its own and displaces native vegetation, works alongside this tree-specific ban as part of the broader unmanaged-vegetation standard the city enforces citywide.

Because the prohibition targets planting rather than existing growth, a mature tree of a banned species that already exists on a lot is not itself unlawful, but replacing it with the same species, or letting seedlings spread, is.