Grand Forks, ND Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Grand Forks City Code section 10-0701 defines 'weeds' broadly as volunteer plants that grow or reproduce aggressively or are invasive outside of their native habitat and tend to overgrow or choke out more desirable plants, crop or lawn. The same definition folds in every plant designated a 'noxious weed' under North Dakota Administrative Code section 7-06-01-02, every species the United States Department of Agriculture classifies or describes as a weed, and any plant capable of causing skin reactions on contact, triggering allergic respiratory reactions, or posing a fire danger.

Section 10-0704(1) makes it unlawful for the owner or occupant of any lot or parcel, including its adjacent right-of-way, berm or boulevard, to allow or maintain that growth, and section 10-0703 separately declares the growth a public nuisance within city limits. Unlike the companion eight-inch height rule that governs ordinary tall grass, the weeds prong of these sections reaches noxious and invasive species regardless of height, because the 'weeds' definition itself carries no height threshold. Section 10-0705 nonetheless lets the public health department director exempt property that is undevelopable, highly erodible, densely wooded, too wet to mow, zoned agricultural for bona fide farming, or part of the greenway.

If the owner does not abate after notice under section 10-0706, section 10-0709 authorizes the Grand Forks Public Health Department to eradicate, cut, remove, or control the weeds itself and assess the cost against the property as a special assessment.