Kootenai County, ID Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Kootenai County Code 4-2-1 lets the county designate weeds that the Idaho department of agriculture has not listed as noxious under Idaho Code title 22, chapter 24, but that still threaten public welfare in the county; these become 'county noxious weeds' under 4-2-2. Any county resident can submit a written request to the board of county commissioners for a species to be designated, including reasons and a proposed control plan, under 4-2-7(A). The county weed control advisory committee, a five-member panel appointed to staggered two-year terms under 4-2-4, must consider every such request and every nonnative species reliably reported in the county within six months, and keep permanent records of its findings.

Under 4-2-7(B), a species becomes a county noxious weed only after the committee recommends a written action plan, including any special management zones, and the board of county commissioners approves it by separate resolution listing the weed by common and scientific name; if the state later designates that same species noxious under Idaho Code, the county designation automatically drops away. Control obligations follow under 4-2-5: every landowner, organization and agency in the county must control county noxious weeds on land they own or manage, through prevention or eradication unless a special management zone applies.

The county weed superintendent can enter land to check compliance if a reasonable attempt was made to contact the owner first, under 4-2-3(C). A general control notice runs in a local newspaper every year between March 1 and April 30 under 4-2-8, and the county can also serve individual notices, quarantine infested land, and recover control costs as a lien on the property if unpaid after sixty days.