Recently a neighbor planted bamboo in a flood control space/retention area shared by 8 houses (everyone owns a part of it). He planted the bamboo on his own part of the retention area, 4 feet from my property line. Because it's a flood control area, I can never create a barrier to prevent the bamboo from invading the part of the space that I own. I can't poison the bamboo shoots that invade my area because when it rains, the water moves from that area towards my planted bald cypress trees. Also, the area has somewhat tall grasses and vegetation so mowing the invading bamboo would be very difficult. Finding young bamboo shoots among the tall grasses would be difficult too.

Furthermore, this retention area is next to a protected forest preserve (see mature trees). This is my other concern. I am afraid that the bamboo will invade and ruin the protected forest area. In fact, I believe that he even planted bamboo in the forest, but I can't be sure because I don't want to walk onto his property to see what he put in there.

I am sure my neighbor meant for the bamboo to provide a privacy cover, so most likely he planted the spreading type. He put in at least 6 plants. The area gets plenty of nutrients and moisture so I suspect that it will grow quickly and really spread.

This is a fairly new neighbor and someone who impressed me as being a bit of a "bully" which could make this difficult. I don't think that he's that knowledgeable about plantings, but he is enthusiastic about putting in a number of inexpensive trees in his part of the retention area. I wasn't concerned until the bamboo went in.

What are my rights? Other advise? Everyone is allowed to plant things in the area, but we can't build or place permanent structures in the shared area, nor can anyone redirect the flow of water in the area.