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What we do
The Noxious Weed Control Program works throughout King County to minimize the economic, environmental, and social impacts of noxious weeds.
Noxious weeds are non-native plants that, once established, are highly destructive, competitive, and difficult to control. They have economic and ecological impacts and are very difficult to manage once they get established. Some are toxic or a public health threat to humans and animals, others destroy native and beneficial plant communities.
Program staff work with all land managers in the County—public and private—to achieve this goal. Our focus is on providing direct service, efficiency, and technical expertise. Though the Program is granted regulatory authority by state law, our primary goal is to help everyone find the best control options for noxious weeds on each site and to reduce the overall impact of noxious weeds throughout the County.
Program objectives
Limited distribution species
Weeds with limited distribution (typically Class A or Class B designated for control) are species with a high potential for negative impact if allowed to spread. Preventing new infestations and eradicating existing infestations are the highest priority. Eradication of all Class A plants is required by law throughout Washington. To address this category of noxious weed the Program works to:
- Eradicate infestations of Class A noxious weeds;
- Control regulated Class B and Class C noxious weeds to below levels of significant impact;
- Carry out early detection and rapid control response of infestations of new or recently detected noxious weeds with restricted distributions.
- Find more information about regulated noxious weeds in King County
Sensitive aquatic and riparian areas
Rivers, lakes, and shorelines throughout King County are vital to the health and wellbeing of our region. To invest in their health, our program runs a program for aquatic weed management and a program to manage invasive species along river corridors.
Learn more about the aquatic and riparian programs
Lands with high conservation value
Noxious weeds can disrupt the ecological balance of natural areas and prevent the success of restoration efforts. The Healthy Lands Project (HeLP) provides invasive weed control and stewardship assistance on conservation lands to keep open space healthy for people and the environment.
Go to the Healthy Lands Project page
Widely distributed weeds
Often these species are already widespread in the county and requiring control countywide would not be feasible. The county weed board encourages landowners to control these species where possible and to avoid introducing them to the county. Our objectives in regards to these species include:
- Support the management of widespread noxious weeds, and facilitation of more effective, coordinated landscape-scale control effort;
- Educate the community about prevention and management of noxious weed infestations and increase participation in noxious weeds control activities;
- Assist and educate landowners to be responsible stewards of the land and aquatic resources of the County by eliminating or minimizing the degrading impact of invasive noxious weeds.
Services
The King County Noxious Weed Control Program provides many services to county residents, including:
- Detecting and responding quickly to new weed infestations and introductions.
- Surveying/mapping noxious weed infestations locations countywide.
- Offering landowners technical expertise to achieve high rates of weed control and voluntary compliance with the state weed law.
- Providing educational services to the public through informational workshops and publications.
- Conducting research on the best methods for weed control and eradication in King County.
- Assisting other agencies and non-profit groups with weed identification, control and eradication.
- Coordinating weed management efforts by working with volunteer and community groups.
- Knotweed control projects: landscape scale knotweed control on rivers
- Healthy Lands Project (HeLP): invasive weed control on conservation lands
Annual Report
For information about the program's projects, activities and achievements, see the program's Annual Reports.
Please contact the program for digital copies of prior years.
Funding
The Noxious Weed Control Program is funded primarily through a parcel assessment on properties in King County and with additional support through grants. Beginning in 1998, the King County Noxious Weed Control Board asked the King County Council to put a special assessment on each property tax bill to fund the weed control program, as authorized by state law RCW 17.10. As allowed under the state's noxious weed law, many Washington counties now have noxious weed assessments on their property tax bills so that weed programs can have a dedicated source of funding. Details on annual revenue and expenditures of the program are available in the annual reports produced each year and distributed publicly.