Illegal Plant Species - DNR Link

Here is the link to the DNR's Invasive species page. Perhaps it could be stickied?

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ecological_s ... /laws.html

There's a nice pamphlet on invasive aquatic plants too

Invasive Aquatic Plants
What every water gardener and shoreline restorer should know
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/assistance ... deners.pdf

Here's a hopefully interesting study on how invasive plants make it into Minnesota.

Movement of invasive aquatic plants into Minnesota (USA)
through horticultural trade
Kristine Maki, Susan Galatowitsch
Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota,

http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/seagrant/maki.pdf

Here's a federal regulation to be aware of. The Plant Protection Act is the regulation that governs such weeds ( http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/ ... PAText.pdf )

The list of federal noxious weeds is at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/ ... st2006.pdf

There's an online plant ID guide that does a really good job focusing on aquatic federal noxious weeds and provides pictures for ID purposes. http://www.lucidcentral.org/keys/appw/html/fnws.html
Keep in mind that the pictures include both noxious weeds and similar looking non-noxious plants, so not all the pictures are of controlled plants.

When scanning the Plant Protection Act, it immediately becomes obvious that a special permit is needed to move federal noxious weeds across state lines. There are some other interesting parts. Section 421 deals with inspections, and section 424 defines penalties.

SEC. 424. PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION.
(a) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Any person that knowingly violates
this title, or that knowingly forges, counterfeits, or, without
authority from the Secretary, uses, alters, defaces, or destroys any
certificate, permit, or other document provided for in this title
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be
fined in accordance with title 18, United States Code, imprisoned
for a period not exceeding 1 year, or both.
(b) CIVIL PENALTIES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person that violates this title, or
that forges, counterfeits, or, without authority from the Sec-retary,
uses, alters, defaces, or destroys any certificate, permit,
or other document provided for in this title may, after notice
and opportunity for a hearing on the record, be assessed a
civil penalty by the Secretary that does not exceed the greater
of—
(A) $50,000 in the case of any individual (except that
the civil penalty may not exceed $1,000 in the case of
an initial violation of this title by an individual moving
regulated articles not for monetary gain), $250,000 in the
case of any other person for each violation, and $500,000
for all violations adjudicated in a single proceeding; or
(B) twice the gross gain or gross loss for any violation,
forgery, counterfeiting, unauthorized use, defacing, or
destruction of a certificate, permit, or other document pro-vided
for in this title that results in the person deriving
pecuniary gain or causing pecuniary loss to another.
(2) FACTORS IN DETERMINING CIVIL PENALTY.—In deter-mining
the amount of a civil penalty, the Secretary shall take
into account the nature, circumstance, extent, and gravity of
the violation or violations and the Secretary may consider,
with respect to the violator—
(A) ability to pay;
(B) effect on ability to continue to do business;
(C) any history of prior violations;
(D) the degree of culpability; and
(E) any other factors the Secretary considers appro-priate.
(3) SETTLEMENT OF CIVIL PENALTIES.—The Secretary may
compromise, modify, or remit, with or without conditions, any
civil penalty that may be assessed under this subsection.
(4) FINALITY OF ORDERS.—The order of the Secretary
assessing a civil penalty shall be treated as a final order review-able
under chapter 158 of title 28, United States Code. The
validity of the Secretary’s order may not be reviewed in an
action to collect the civil penalty. Any civil penalty not paid
in full when due under an order assessing the civil penalty

That DNR link is broken. I believe it should be:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/aq ... index.html

The link changed again.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/invasives/laws.html

Here is what is listed on the site:
Aquatic Plants
African oxygen weed (Lagarosiphon major)
aquarium watermoss or giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta)
Australian stone crop (Crassula helmsii)
brittle naiad (Najas minor)
curly-leaf pondweed (Potamogeton crispus)*
Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum)*
European frog-bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae)
flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus)*
hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata)
Indian swampweed (Hygrophila polysperma)
purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria, Lythrum virgatum, or any variety, hybrid, or cultivar thereof)*
water aloe or water soldiers (Stratiotes aloides)
water chestnut (Trapa natans)
the aquatic plants listed in Code of Federal Regulations, title 7, section 360.200, are also designated as prohibited invasive species except for Chinese water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica)

The Minnesota DNR's Invasive Species program put together a combined list of federal- and state-listed plants in 2013:

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/invasives/weedlist.pdf

shadoj wrote:

The Minnesota DNR's Invasive Species program put together a combined list of federal- and state-listed plants in 2013:

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/invasives/weedlist.pdf

Thanks Jen! I've been looking for a comprehensive list like this for a while.

It looks like the address for this list may have changed. I believe that this is the new location: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/laws.html