Mono County, CA Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Mono County handles 'weeds' on two separate tracks. For wildfire risk, the County's Chapter 22 Fire Safe Regulation requires removal of brush, flammable vegetation, and combustible growth within 30 feet of structures and reduction in the 30-100 foot zone, with grass beyond 30 feet kept under 18 inches; this is reinforced by California Public Resources Code 4291, which mandates up to 100 feet of defensible space in the State Responsibility Area covering most of the county. County personnel and Fire Protection District representatives inspect and issue correction notices (Section 22.150). For agricultural and ecological weeds, the Inyo and Mono Counties Agricultural Commissioner's Office runs a noxious-weed program and administers the Eastern Sierra Weed Management Area (ESWMA), formed in 1998, whose partners include CDFA, the Agricultural Commissioner, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, BLM, the U.S. Forest Service, and Caltrans. ESWMA targets perennial pepperweed, Dalmatian toadflax, halogeton, Russian knapweed, spotted knapweed, Canada thistle, and Scotch thistle, using mechanical, chemical, and biological control with multi-year follow-up. The County General Plan additionally requires landscaping and revegetation plans to include measures to control invasive non-native plants, weeds, and annual grasses.