116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Got prairie? Marion adds no-cost permit for natural landscaping
Marion now outlines guidelines for ‘natural or naturalistic landscaping,’ removing gray area in city code
Jun. 5, 2025 5:48 pm
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The City of Marion has updated its city code relating to weeds and natural landscaping.
Ordinance No. 25-05 amends Chapter 324 of the Marion Code, adding a natural or naturalistic landscape policy and permits.
Seth Staashelm, Marion Parks and Recreation Director, said the change tackles a gray area that existed in the city’s enforcement of noxious weed abatement. Previously, it would be up to a city official conducting a property inspection to determine whether it had natural landscaping or violated city code relating to noxious weeds.
“We want to get rid of the discretion and just make it black and white because ... we are firm believers in the prairie, but we really shouldn’t be opinion-based as government officials,” Staashelm said.
Marion residents may replace lawns with native landscaping that is planned, managed and maintained. The change requires residents to submit a permit application in order to “switch” to a native landscape that includes grasses that exceed or are expected to exceed 8 inches in height.
The permit process allows the city to keep track of properties with natural landscaping and build connections with the property owners. Deputy Parks Director Brent Neighbor said during a Marion City Council work session on May 6 that the permit process will deter tall grass and noxious weed complaints while promoting biodiversity.
Staashelm said education still is needed for the general public on what is natural landscaping — like pocket prairie — and what is overgrown grass. A list of permitted native and non-native plants will be available online in the updated city code for residents to reference.
Marion will roll out its online application process in the coming weeks, Staashelm said. In the meantime, residents can call the Parks and Recreation Administrative and Operations Office at 319-447-3580. Residents who are participating in Monarch Research Project’s Native Oasis program do not need to submit a separate application to the City of Marion.
When a tall grass complaint is received, an inspection is conducted to validate the complaint.
“If it is valid, then we give a door hanger and send out a certified letter that if you have tall grass, you need to take care of it,” Staashelm said, “and after a certain amount of days ... we go reinspect it. If it’s not taken care of, then we go abate it.”
The property owner is billed for the abatement.
Residential prairie owners react
It takes a few years for pocket prairies to get their intricate network of roots established and for flowering prairie plants to bloom. This means it takes a while for it to look like prairie.
Drew and Erin Erickson live in Marion’s Prairie Ridge neighborhood. Shortly after moving to their home in February 2021, they started the yearslong process of installing two pocket prairies in their backyard.
The process started with solarizing their lawn, or placing a tarp over the target area to kill weeds and their seeds, and burn away grasses. Then they moved on to planting the seeds, and eventually mowing the prairie.
“I don’t want people to think that this just happened, like we didn’t just stop mowing,” Drew said. “This was a four-year process to get where we’re at ... I walk it once a week to chop down the weeds that we’re trying to avoid propagating, so it’s ongoing work.”
“My favorite part is when people walk by and compliment us on it. A lady walking her dog last week commented that she has now planted her own prairie somewhere in Prairie Ridge,” he said, calling the experience gratifying.
“The more people that do this, the more it becomes acceptable.”
Erin said some neighbors accepted the project immediately, while others needed the Ericksons to walk them through what they were doing in their backyard.
Staashelm said, “We want to help people that are wanting to implement (natural landscaping) to be able to handle those complaints coming forward to say hey, no, this is something that’s actually intentional.”
When asked about Marion creating a permit application for natural landscaping, Erin said it was “ridiculous” to require the process to grow plants that are not only native to the state of Iowa, but also have water quality and soil health benefits. Native plant plugs and seeds are not consistently available at local plant nurseries. Erin said adding the application process makes planting natives “more cumbersome.”
She contrasted Marion’s approach to the City of Dubuque’s Mowing to Monarchs program, which provides participants with native pollinator plant plugs or seeds for free. Participants also are supported by Dubuque County Conservation staff and local Master Gardeners. The program has helped plant more than 300 pocket prairies in the past five years.
“I think having more programs similar to like what Dubuque does with Mowing to Monarchs, that would be a good way to handle this, where people are incentivized to join a program versus a permit structure that the City of Marion is doing,” Erin said.
Drew continued, “You should have a permit to spray herbicides and put down fertilizers that are running off into the sewer. You shouldn’t have to have a permit to do something that’s very natural. And I mean, we live in a neighborhood called Prairie Ridge where there are very few prairies, which is ironic.”
The City of Marion, along with the City of Cedar Rapids, subsidizes the cost of Monarch Research Project’s Native Oasis program. Native Oasis guides homeowners in Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha to create pollinator-friendly landscaping by providing native plants and the guidance of expert mentors from the Marion nonprofit and Linn County Master Gardeners. It costs the property owner $80 to participate.
How does Marion’s ordinance compare to other cities?
While the state of Iowa has designated a list of noxious weeds, local governments determine their regulations and guidelines on natural landscaping. The City of Marion looked to Iowa City when drafting their new ordinance.
Iowa City has a no-cost application process for requesting designation of natural planting areas. That application process requires a site plan for the property and a planting plan, a list of native plants to be approved by a city horticulturalist, and a maintenance plan.
Cedar Rapids allows natural landscaping and does not have an application or permit process. Patricia Hall, Cedar Rapids solid waste and recycling manager, said the city looks for signs that the natural landscaping is being maintained, like having a defined mowed border around the area. Additionally, they ask that tall grass and prairie plants are not planted in the city right of way, which is three feet from the curb line, or the portion between the curb and the sidewalk.
“It becomes a visual impairment for drivers, so we just say nothing in the right of way,” Hall said. “If you do want to have a natural prairie or pollinator area, just have the definitive borders and maintain it.”
Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com
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