Siskiyou County, CA Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

There is no county ordinance mandating native-plant landscaping for private homes in unincorporated Siskiyou County; residential planting choices are largely unregulated. The County Code does express a native-plant preference in one place: the zoning Improvement Standards. Siskiyou County Code Title 10, Chapter 6, Article 56, Section 10-6.5609 (Landscaping) states that one purpose of landscaping is "to ensure that the local stock of native trees is replenished," and that plant material "shall generally be native or hardy to the region." That standard, with its requirements for landscaped percentages of front-yard setbacks and parking-lot interiors and its emphasis on shade trees, applies to commercial and industrial development, not to single-family yards. The native-plant preference therefore guides project landscaping plans reviewed by the Planning Division rather than imposing duties on individual residents. For water-conserving landscapes generally, California's Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO) encourages climate-adapted and low-water plants and applies to qualifying new and rehabilitated landscapes (see Water Restrictions). Native and drought-tolerant planting is also encouraged as a defensible-space and conservation practice given the county's wildfire exposure and stressed groundwater basins, but it remains a recommendation for homeowners, not a mandate.