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

Amador County has no general ordinance mandating native-plant palettes for residential yards in the unincorporated area, and oak-studded foothill and Shenandoah Valley properties are free to keep native oaks, grasses, and chaparral subject only to fire defensible-space duties. For new and rehabilitated landscapes that require a permit, California's Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO) - applied statewide through CalGreen where the county has no stricter local ordinance - encourages low-water and climate-adapted plants, restricts high-water-use species, and limits turf area. California Civil Code Section 4735 protects property owners by prohibiting homeowners' associations from banning low-water-using plants or drought-tolerant landscaping; HOAs may not enforce purely aesthetic rules that prevent water-conserving landscaping. Importantly for the foothills, the county's defensible-space chapter (County Code Chapter 7.30) does regulate vegetation by fire risk rather than by native-vs-nonnative status: even native brush, weeds, and ladder fuels must be thinned within the defensible-space zones around structures. The county General Plan also promotes retention of native oak woodlands at the development stage, but that operates through project review rather than a homeowner planting requirement.