NOXIOUS WEEDS
Most gardeners would say that any weed in their garden is a noxious weed. However, in Washington State, the term “noxious weed” has a specific legal meaning: a non-native plant designated as such by federal, state or county law as aggressive and/or injurious.
The State of Washington has enacted legislation (Chapter 17.10 RCW), which created a series of Weed Control Boards at the state, regional, and county levels. The purpose of these boards is to identify aggressive and/or injurious weeds within their jurisdictions, and to facilitate the control and removal of these weeds.
Each year, the State Noxious Weed Board adopts a State Noxious Weed List. Regional and county weed boards use this list as the basis for creating their own noxious weed lists, based on their local weed control priorities. Washington weed control laws assigns primary responsibility for noxious weed control to the landowner – whether it is private, state, or county lands.
The economic cost of controlling noxious weeds is borne by all of us, even if we live in an urban environment. Noxious weed control increases the cost of agricultural food and products. Tax money is required to remove noxious weeds from the edges of our roads. By law, noxious weeds must be controlled by parks, state forests, schools and cities, resulting in higher fees and taxes. Removing noxious weeds from our lakes and waterways, and then restoring them, is very expensive.
