Land that qualifies for an agricultural tax valuation in Lee County is appraised on its productivity value rather than on its market value. The same holds true for lands that maintain wildlife tax valuation, commonly referred to as a wildlife exemption.
While many Lee County landowners refer to such land as having an “exemption”, in fact there is no such exemption — it is just a different method of calculating the land’s value for ad valorem tax purposes. Correctly speaking such land has an agricultural valuation.
Wildlife Exemption in Lee County?
Under Texas law, wildlife management is legally nothing more than an additional qualifying agricultural practice people may choose from in order to maintain the agricultural valuation on their land. Wildlife management use is a great for landowners that do not have enough acreage for or enough interest in a commercial ag operation.
Since there is no real ag “exemption”, there also is no “wildlife exemption” in Lee County, but landowners through the term around all the time. Wildlife management is not an additional appraisal, nor is it separate from “traditional” agriculture. For ad valorem tax purposes wildlife management is agriculture. There is no change in the ad valorem tax valuation with wildlife management, only a change in the qualifying agricultural practice.
Wildlife Management Benefits You, Wildlife and Lee County
Maintaining an ag tax rate is good news for landowners that switch the use of their land from a traditional agricultural use to wildlife management use because their taxes remain very low. Another benefit is that land management increases the functions and values of land across Lee County. Many landowners have switched from ag to wildlife use since the inception of the wildlife tax valuation in 1995.
Landowners must actively manage their land on an annual basis in order to maintain a wildlife exemption. A landowner must also submit a detailed wildlife management plan to the Lee County Central Appraisal District to make the change official.
Management Plan for Wildlife Tax Valuation
The wildlife management plan must establish the landowner’s goals and objectives for their property, and must describe the specific activities and practices they will perform each year. These activities need to benefit wildlife species of interest and their habitats.
We assist landowners in Lee County with the development of wildlife management plans for the wildlife management use of their property. Contact us at no obligation and we will determine up front if your property can successfully transition from ag use to a wildlife exemption — or whatever you want to call it!