The Texas PWD 885-W7000 wildlife management plan is the document you file with your county’s Central Appraisal District to convert land already receiving a 1-d-1 agricultural or timber appraisal to wildlife management use while keeping the lower property tax valuation. The form is developed by Texas Parks and Wildlife but goes to your local appraisal district, not to TPWD.1Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. 1-D-1 Open Space Agricultural Valuation Wildlife Management Plan To qualify, you commit in writing to performing at least three of seven recognized management activities on the land each year, and you describe those activities in enough detail that the Chief Appraiser can see you mean it.
Before You Start the Form
Confirm three things first. Skipping this step is how landowners waste a filing season.
Your land already has a 1-d-1 appraisal. You cannot convert straight from market-value taxation to wildlife management. The property must already be receiving an open-space agricultural or timber valuation when you switch. If it is not, you have to establish traditional agricultural use and qualify under the standard ag rules before the wildlife path opens.2State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 23.51 – Definitions
Your tract meets the minimum acreage for your ecoregion. Texas Tax Code Section 23.521 lets TPWD and the Comptroller set minimum tract sizes based on ecoregion, target wildlife, and management activities.3State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 23.521 – Standards for Qualification of Land for Appraisal Based on Wildlife Management Use The minimums differ by county, so call your Central Appraisal District and ask for the exact threshold. Land subdivided in the year before you apply faces stricter minimums.
You can honestly commit to at least three of the seven qualifying activities. Those seven are habitat control, erosion control, predator control, supplemental water, supplemental food, providing shelters, and census counts. Habitat control covers grazing management, prescribed burns, brush management, and native reseeding. Erosion control covers pond construction, gully shaping, streamside revegetation, and water diversions. Predator control targets fire ants, feral hogs, coyotes, cowbirds, and similar species that harm the wildlife you are managing. Supplemental water means wildlife watering facilities, spring development, or wetland restoration. Supplemental food means food plots, feeders, or grazing management that leaves forage for wildlife. Providing shelters includes nesting boxes, brush piles, and bat houses. Census counts means population surveys through spotlight counts, camera traps, or bird counts. Whichever three (or more) you choose must be consistent with TPWD’s guidelines for your ecoregion.4Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Wildlife Management Activities and Practices
Before you write anything on the form, download the Comprehensive Wildlife Management Planning Guidelines for your ecoregion from TPWD. Separate guides exist for the Edwards Plateau, Gulf Prairies and Marshes, High Plains, Pineywoods, Post Oak Savannah, South Texas Plains, and Trans-Pecos. They tell you which practices actually work in your region and what your appraiser is expecting to read.5Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Agriculture Property Tax Conversion for Wildlife Management
Filling Out the Form Section by Section
Part I: Owner Information
Enter your name, mailing address, phone number, and the appraisal district account number for the property. If your land crosses county lines, list the majority county first and the others below it. Add the tract name if you have one so the appraiser can match your plan to the right parcel.
Part II: Property Description
Give the legal description, location by highway and road numbers relative to the nearest town, and the total acreage. Mark whether the property is under a high fence, partially fenced, or unfenced. Then break down the acreage by habitat type: cropland, bottomland or riparian, wetlands, native pasture, non-native grassland, timberlands, native range or brush, and any other habitat present. The habitat acres should add up to the total.
Part III: Target Species
Check the species you are managing for. The form lists deer, turkey, quail, songbirds, waterfowl, doves, and bats, with blank lines for reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, insects, and species of concern. Be specific. Writing “white-tailed deer” reads better than “deer,” and a vague target species gives the appraiser less reason to approve the plan.
Part V: Qualifying Wildlife Management Activities
Check at least three of the seven activities. Fewer than three is automatic disqualification.2State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 23.51 – Definitions Checking four or five gives you a cushion if the appraiser questions whether one of your listed activities really qualifies as performed.
Part VI: Deer Population Management
If deer are part of your plan, indicate whether you use lease hunting, family and guest hunting, or both. List harvest numbers for the past three seasons, bucks and does separately. State your target pre-season density, sex ratio, and fawn production rate. If deer are not part of your plan, mark “No” and move on.
Part VIII: Detailed Activity Descriptions
This is where weak plans get rejected. For each activity you checked in Part V, describe what you will do, where on the property, and roughly when. Under habitat control, spell out your grazing rotation, prescribed burn schedule, or brush management approach. Under predator control, name the target species and the methods. “Manage predators as needed” is not enough. If you are running feral hog trapping in the bottomland from October through February, write that.
Where and How to File
Send the completed PWD 885-W7000 to your county Central Appraisal District. Do not send it to TPWD.1Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. 1-D-1 Open Space Agricultural Valuation Wildlife Management Plan
If this is your first year converting from traditional agricultural use to wildlife management, the PWD 885-W7000 is not filed alone. It goes in as an attachment to Comptroller Form 50-129, the Application for 1-d-1 Open-Space Agricultural Use Appraisal.6Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Application for 1-d-1 (Open-Space) Agricultural Use Appraisal Form 50-129 is the tax application; PWD 885-W7000 is the supporting plan that proves you are managing wildlife.
Ask your appraisal district how they accept submissions. Some take PDF by email, others want hard copies by mail or in person, and formatting rules can be specific. At least one district requires a single combined PDF with no loose photos or third-party download links.
The May 1 Deadline
File the plan and Form 50-129 before May 1 of the tax year in which you want the wildlife management appraisal to take effect.7State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 23.54 – Application The Chief Appraiser can extend for good cause by up to 60 days, but “good cause” is discretionary and not something to plan around.
Miss May 1 and you may still file late, up until the appraisal review board approves the records for that year. A late application that gets approved carries a penalty of 10 percent of the difference between what you would owe at the agricultural valuation and what you would owe at full market value.8State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 23.541 – Late Application for Appraisal On rural land where market value dwarfs agricultural value, that 10 percent adds up quickly.
Why Plans Get Rejected
The recurring problems are predictable:
- The land was not already receiving a 1-d-1 agricultural or timber appraisal when the wildlife use began.
- The plan checks only one or two of the seven qualifying activities.
- The activities described do not match TPWD’s guidelines for the property’s ecoregion.
- Activity descriptions are vague, with no specific practices, target species, or timing.
- The tract was recently subdivided and falls below the minimum acreage for its ecoregion.
Chief Appraisers and appraisal review boards are required to apply the standards TPWD developed under Tax Code Section 23.521 when they decide whether land qualifies.3State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 23.521 – Standards for Qualification of Land for Appraisal Based on Wildlife Management Use Reading your ecoregion’s planning guidelines before you write the plan is the single most effective way to avoid a rejection on substance.9Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Tax Valuation for Wildlife Management FAQ
Free Help From TPWD Biologists
TPWD’s Wildlife Division provides free one-on-one technical guidance to landowners writing or refining a plan. A biologist can advise on habitat strategies, population goals, and which practices fit your ecoregion and target species.10Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Landowner Assistance and Technical Guidance Program Use it before you fill out the form. Note the boundary: this service is advisory only. TPWD biologists do not approve or deny your tax appraisal, and their involvement does not obligate your county to accept the plan.
After Your Plan Is Approved
Some counties require an annual Wildlife Management Annual Report (Form PWD-888) documenting what you actually did during the year. It goes to the appraisal district, not TPWD, and it is separate from the plan itself.5Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Agriculture Property Tax Conversion for Wildlife Management Ask your appraiser when you file whether an annual report is required. Even where it is not, keep dated records of every activity: receipts, photos, harvest logs, census data. If the appraiser ever questions whether you are still actively managing wildlife, those records are your defense.
One consequence to keep in mind before you commit: if the land later stops qualifying, whether you walked away from the program or simply let practices lapse, you owe a rollback tax covering the previous three years. The rollback is the difference between what you paid at the agricultural value and what you would have paid at market value for each of those years.11Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Agricultural, Timberland and Wildlife Management Use Special Appraisal Filing the plan is a serious ongoing commitment, not just paperwork.