Lassen County, CA Landscaping Rules: Grass Height Limits (2026)

Lassen County does not publish a single ordinance setting one grass height (for example a four- or six-inch limit) for an entire yard. The county is high desert and forest, sparsely settled, and dry-grass control runs through two channels. First, County Code Chapter 1.18 (Public Nuisances) lets the county declare conditions that are 'a public nuisance' under California statute, county ordinance, or a Board of Supervisors resolution, and requires the owner or occupant of land in the unincorporated territory to abate the nuisance; an owner ordinarily has ten calendar days after the abatement notice is served to act. Dry, flammable grass that creates a fire hazard is the kind of condition state law treats as a nuisance. Second, for buildings in the State Responsibility Area (most of forested, brush- and grass-covered Lassen County), California Public Resources Code 4291 requires 100 feet of defensible space around structures; CAL FIRE's defensible-space guidance calls for cutting annual grasses and weeds down and keeping them low within that zone. The county itself does not enforce a uniform mow-height standard outside the nuisance and defensible-space frameworks, so the practical 'grass height' duty is fire-driven and tied to proximity to structures rather than a flat yard rule.