TITLE 22

AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE

CHAPTER 24

NOXIOUS WEEDS

22-2402.  Definitions. As used in this chapter:

(1)  "Agency" means:

(a)  In the case of the federal government, any authority which exercises administrative control over defined areas of federal lands within the state of Idaho;

(b)  In the case of the state of Idaho, any department, board, commission, or institution;

(c)  In the case of local government, cities, counties and any legal subdivisions thereof, drainage districts, irrigation districts, canal companies, highway districts, or any special taxing district.

(2)  "Applicable fund or account" means:

(a)  In the case of the state of Idaho, the noxious weed account, which is hereby created and established in the dedicated fund and which shall be used exclusively for the purposes prescribed by this chapter;

(b)  In each county, the noxious weed fund, which is hereby created and established and shall be maintained in each county and which shall be used exclusively for the purposes prescribed by this chapter.

(3)  "Aquatic plant" means any plant growing in, or closely associated with, the aquatic environment and includes, but is not limited to, riparian plants.

(4)  "Article" means a particular kind of object, and includes any type of conveyance, mode of transport or associated materials such as water.

(5)  "Classical biological control" means the introduction of control agents into a region, that is not part of their natural range, to suppress permanently the populations of selected target weeds usually also introduced into that region. "Augmentative biological control" means the supplemental release of control agents into a region, that is part of their natural range, to suppress permanently the populations of selected target weeds.

(6)  "Containment" means halting the spread of a weed infestation beyond specified boundaries.

(7)  "Control" means any or all of the following: prevention, rehabilitation, eradication or modified treatments.

(8)  "Control authority" means:

(a)  On the state level, the director of the department of agriculture;

(b)  On the county level, the board of county commissioners.

(9)  "Cooperative weed management area (CWMA)" means a distinguishable hydrologic, vegetative or geographic zone based upon geography, weed infestations, climate or human-use patterns. Cooperative weed management areas may be composed of a portion of a county, a county, portions of several counties, or portions of one (1) or more states.

(10)  "Department" means the Idaho state department of agriculture.

(11)  "Director" means the director of the department of agriculture or the director’s designated agent.

(12) "Eradication" means the elimination of a noxious weed based on absence as determined by a visual inspection by the control authority during the current growing season.

(13) "Integrated weed management plan (IWMP)" means a plan developed to manage, control or eradicate a noxious weed(s) from a cooperative weed management area or other weed management area. Integrated weed management strategies may include, but are not limited to, prevention, cultural, mechanical, chemical and biological methods.

(14) "Land" means all soil or water or other growing medium.

(15) "Landowner" means:

(a)  The person who holds legal title to the land, except that portion for which another person has the right to exclude others from possession of the parcel; or

(b)  A person with an interest in a parcel of land such that the person has the right to exclude others from possession of the parcel.

(16) "Modified treatment" means treatment specified in an integrated weed management plan.

(17) "Noxious weed" means any plant having the potential to cause injury to public health, crops, livestock, land or other property; and which is designated as noxious by the director.

(18) "Person" means any individual, partnership, firm, agency, corporation, company, society or association.

(19) "Prevention" means:

(a)  Any action that reduces the potential for the introduction or establishment of a plant species in areas not currently infested with that species; or

(b)  Any action that deters the spread of noxious weeds.

(20) "Quarantine" means the regulation of the production, movement, or existence of plants, plant products, animals, animal products, or any other article or material, or the normal activity of persons, to prevent or limit introduction or spread of noxious weeds.

(21) "Rehabilitation" means the process of reconditioning formerly weed infested land to a productive or desirable condition.

(22) "Riparian" means the green, vegetated areas along the edge of water bodies like rivers, creeks, canals, lakes, springs, sloughs, potholes and wetlands. They are the transition zone between upland and aquatic ecosystems. Underlying saturated soil is a key feature in riparian areas.

(23) "State noxious weed advisory committee" means an advisory committee appointed by the director to advise and to assist in development, modification and direction of a statewide noxious weed management strategy.

(24)   "Viable" means a plant or plant part capable of surviving or living successfully, especially under particular environmental conditions.

(25) "Waters" means all the accumulations of water, surface and underground, natural and artificial, public and private, or parts thereof which are wholly or partially within, which flow through, or which border upon the state.

(26) "Weed control advisory committee" means a committee established by weed control agencies or authorities, at the county level, or a steering committee of a cooperative weed management area, to develop and to recommend implementation of integrated weed management plans and strategies.

(27)  "Hybrid" means the offspring of two (2) plants of different breeds, varieties, species or genera.

(28)  "Releasing" means releasing, placing, planting, or causing to be released, a species in a water body, facility, water supply system, field, garden, planted area, ecosystem or otherwise into the environment within the state of Idaho.

(29)  "Researcher" means someone who has the generally accepted education, experience and position within the biological control research community.

(30)  "Research facility" means:

(a)  Any laboratory, institution, college or university, at which scientific tests, experiments or peer-reviewed investigations involving the use of any living plants are carried out, conducted or attempted and that receives funds under a grant, award or contract from a department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States for the purpose of carrying out research, tests or experiments and that uses generally accepted protocols at an equivalent or higher level than a U.S. centers for disease control and prevention biosafety level 1 facility; or

(b)  Any privately funded laboratory, institution, college or university at which scientific tests, experiments or peer-reviewed investigations involving the use of any living plants are carried out, conducted or attempted and that uses generally accepted protocols at an equivalent or higher level than a U.S. centers for disease control and prevention biosafety level 1 facility.

History:

[(22-2402) 22-2472, 22-2442, added 1970, ch. 149, sec. 3, p. 448; am. 1981, ch. 309, sec. 4, p. 636; am. 1987, ch. 331, sec. 3, p. 692; am. and redesig. 1989, ch. 298, sec. 3, p. 732; am. and redesig. 1993, ch. 247, sec. 2, p. 860; am. 1999, ch. 75, sec. 1, p. 213; am. 2006, ch. 225, sec. 1, p. 669; am. 2015, ch. 279, sec. 1, p. 1139; am. 2016, ch. 198, sec. 1, p. 553.]