The Wildlife Exemption in Navarro County
A wildlife exemption offers an alternative agricultural exemption that preserves low property taxes through native Texas wildlife management. Navarro County landowners perform wildlife-focused activities instead of, or alongside, traditional agricultural uses. Traditional Texas ag and timber exemptions require farming, ranching, or timber production.
Proposition 11, passed in 1995, allows landowners to qualify through wildlife management practices. This option maintains lower property taxes without many traditional agriculture costs or activities.
Wildlife Management Use of Land
Ag and wildlife exemptions do not remove property taxes entirely. However, they do reduce taxable value of agricultural lands well below market value. Large parcels and high-value areas see the greatest tax savings. These savings protect open-space land in Navarro County and throughout Texas. That protection makes ag and wildlife exemptions especially valuable across Texas.
Land qualifies for wildlife management in Navarro County use when it supports a sustaining breeding, migrating, or wintering population. Wildlife do not need to reside permanently on the property if they migrate through or only use the land seasonally.
Wildlife Exemption in Navarro County: Native Wildlife
A sustaining breeding population consists of enough native wildlife to survive independently across generations. The population remains viable because it reproduces at sustainable levels.
A migrating population includes native wildlife that moves between seasonal ranges. A wintering population includes indigenous wildlife that occupies its winter range.
The law requires landowners to propagate wildlife for human use. Human use includes food, medicine, or recreation. Recreational use may be active or passive.
Qualifying activities include birdwatching, hiking, hunting, and photography. Non-consumptive hobbies also qualify as recreational use. An owner’s passive enjoyment of wildlife management also qualifies.
Wildlife Management Plan Requirements
Landowners switching to a wildlife exemption must file a wildlife management plan with the Navarro Central Appraisal District. The wildlife management plan must describe in detail at least three of seven approved management activities to demonstrate the land’s primary use and degree of intensity.
These activities include habitat control to improve conditions for wildlife, erosion control to reduce soil loss, predator control when predators harm target species, providing supplemental water or food beyond natural levels, creating or maintaining shelter through vegetation or structures, and conducting wildlife surveys to monitor population size and evaluate management effectiveness.
Please contact us if you need assistance with the wildlife exemption in Navarro County. We focus on helping landowners develop wildlife management plans that are required by the Navarro Central Appraisal District. Simply submit a little information to us and we can assess eligibility and offer no obligation recommendations.