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

05. Subd. 1 protects buffer vegetation that has been an uncultivated, unbroken grass or shrub layer for at least five consecutive years. Subd. 2 lets the City override that protection and declare existing buffer vegetation unacceptable if it is composed of undesirable plant species, naming reed canary grass, common buckthorn, purple loosestrife, and leafy spurge or noxious weeds as examples, or if it lacks an organic thatch layer, channelizes runoff, or otherwise cannot retain sediment and nutrients. Where a buffer is unvegetated, cultivated, or disturbed within five years of a permit application, Subd.

3 requires replanting with a BWSR-approved seed mix of 100 percent perennial native species, soil amended to 10 to 35 percent organic content, native shrubs at 60 plants per acre, and silt fencing during construction. 04, Subd. 7(a), which lets a property owner remove noxious weeds, non-native invasive plants and dead vegetation from a stream buffer without a City permit, while any other disturbance needs the City Engineer's approval of a buffer restoration plan. Developers must file annual progress reports for five years after planting, mapping native versus invasive or non-native cover in the buffer, and the City can require replanting of any vegetation that fails to establish until the buffer is formally accepted.