Texas 1-d-1 Wildlife Management Valuation
Keep your ag exemption. Lose the livestock.
Convert your agricultural valuation to wildlife management and protect thousands in property taxes every year — with a TPWD-ready plan, guided practices, and audit-proof records. No cattle. No consultants. No spreadsheets.
The wildlife exemption, plainly
Same low ag taxes. A healthier ranch. No cows required.
Since 1995, Texas law has let you keep your open-space (1-d-1) agricultural valuation by managing your land for native wildlife instead of running livestock or row crops.
Your land is appraised at its agricultural productivity value — often 90%+ below market value — as long as you follow a wildlife management plan and perform at least 3 of 7 state-defined practices each year. Do it right, and the valuation is yours to keep for good.
- Legally identical tax treatment — wildlife management is agricultural use under Texas Tax Code §23.51(7)
- No livestock, leases, or fences to chase — manage for deer, turkey, songbirds, or pollinators instead
- Your productivity value carries over — you keep the same appraised value category you have today
Everything in one place
From “do I qualify?” to “report filed.”
Four jobs stand between you and a bulletproof wildlife exemption. We built a tool for each one.
PWD‑885 Plan Builder
Answer plain-English questions about your land and goals. Get a complete, ecoregion-correct wildlife management plan ready to file with your appraisal district.
Practice Tracking
Log feeders filled, water stations checked, brush cleared, and surveys run — from your phone, in the field, with photos GPS-stamped to your property.
PWD‑888 Annual Report
When your appraisal district asks for proof, generate your annual report in one click — every activity, date, and photo already organized.
Audit-Ready Vault
Five years of defensible records in one place. If the chief appraiser ever questions your valuation, you answer with evidence — not memory.
Built for the field, not the file cabinet
Your whole exemption, on one calm dashboard.
Open the app and know instantly: what’s done, what’s due, and whether you’d pass a review today.
- Compliance meter shows your season progress against the 3-of-7 requirement
- Smart reminders match tasks to the right season — surveys in fall, food plots before the rains
- Photo evidence auto-organized by practice, date, and location
- One-click reports formatted the way appraisal districts expect
How it works
Three steps to a protected valuation.
Check your land & build the plan
Tell us your county, acreage, and goals. We confirm eligibility, pick target species suited to your ecoregion, and draft your PWD‑885 — ready to file by April 30.
Do the practices, tap to log them
Fill a feeder. Run a spotlight survey. Clear cedar. Each takes minutes to log with photos — and our seasonal checklist tells you exactly what counts.
File your report, keep your savings
When the district requests your PWD‑888, it’s already written. Export, sign, submit — and your low valuation stays locked in for another year.
The 7 qualifying practices
Pick three. We’ll make them count.
Texas Tax Code §23.51(7) defines seven wildlife management practices. Perform at least three each year — matched to your ecoregion’s standards — and your land keeps its agricultural appraisal.
Habitat Control
Brush management, native grass restoration, prescribed burns — shaping plant communities wildlife actually use.
Erosion Control
Gully shaping, check dams, re-seeding slopes, and streamside buffers that keep your soil on your land.
Predator Management
Feral hog trapping, cowbird control, and balanced predator management that protects nesting success.
Supplemental Water
Wildlife waterers, guzzlers, and trough conversions that carry deer, birds, and pollinators through Texas summers.
Supplemental Food
Food plots, feeders, and native browse management — timed to the seasons your wildlife need them most.
Shelter
Brush piles, nest boxes, roost protection, and cover strips that give wildlife a place to raise the next generation.
Census Counts
Spotlight routes, trail-camera surveys, and call counts that prove your management is working.
Not sure which three fit your land?
Our plan builder recommends the right mix for your county’s ecoregion — with intensity levels appraisal districts recognize.
What’s at stake
See what your exemption is worth.
The difference between market-value taxes and ag-value taxes is the number worth protecting. Estimate yours.
Your land
Rough numbers are fine — this is an illustration, not an appraisal.
Estimated annual savings
$9,504
vs. paying taxes on full market value
*Illustrative only. Assumes a typical open-space productivity value of ~$120/acre; actual values are set by your county appraisal district and vary by land class.
Your options
The consultant’s rigor. The spreadsheet’s price.
Landowners have managed wildlife exemptions with binders and biologists for decades. Here’s what changes when software does the heavy lifting.
| What you need | DIY spreadsheets | Traditional consultant | TexasWildlifeExemption |
|---|---|---|---|
| PWD‑885 management plan | You write it from scratch | ✓ Written for you | ✓ Guided builder, ecoregion-correct, yours in minutes |
| Annual PWD‑888 report | Reconstructed from memory | ✓ Prepared annually | ✓ Auto-generated from your logs |
| Field activity tracking | Notes, texts & photo rolls | Usually still on you | ✓ Tap-to-log with photos & GPS |
| Deadline management | Calendar reminders, maybe | ✓ They track key dates | ✓ County-specific, automatic |
| Audit evidence | Scattered | ✓ In their files | ✓ In your vault, export anytime |
| Typical cost | Free — plus your weekends | $1,500–$3,500+/year | From $249/year |
Consultant pricing reflects typical full-service wildlife management firms in Central Texas. Many of our customers still hire biologists for on-the-ground projects — we make sure the paperwork never needs one.
Landowners first
People who stopped worrying about April 30.
“We inherited 64 acres with an ag exemption and zero interest in running cattle. The plan builder had our PWD‑885 drafted the same afternoon the CAD letter arrived.”
“The appraisal district asked for three years of documentation. I exported it in one PDF while we were still on the phone. That felt very good.”
“A consultant quoted $2,800 a year. This does the plan, the reminders, and the annual report for less than a tenth of that — and I actually understand my own exemption now.”
Local, down to the county line
Your county has its own rules. We know them.
Appraisal districts differ on wildlife-use minimums, report requests, and what “good documentation” looks like. Our directory covers every county in Texas — deadlines, districts, ecoregion practices, and species.
Good questions
Answers before you ask.
Do I lose my ag exemption when I switch to wildlife?
Is there a minimum acreage?
What happens if I don’t file the annual report?
Can I really do this without a biologist?
Your land already earned this. Keep it.
Start free, see exactly what your county requires, and build a wildlife management plan you can stand behind.
No credit card required · 15 minutes to a draft plan · Cancel anytime