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Wildlife Management Use Qualifications |
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Prior
Year
The first requirement for wildlife management
use qualification is purely technical and is not related to the land's actual
use to manage wildlife. The law
restricts what land may qualify for wildlife management use. To qualify for agricultural appraisal under
the wildlife management use, the property owner must have qualified the land
for agricultural appraisal under Chapter 23, Subchapter D Tax Code (also called
1-d-1 or open space agricultural appraisal), at the time the owner changes the
land's use to wildlife management use.
In other words, the owner must have qualified the land for agricultural
appraisal during the year before the year the owner changes to the wildlife
management use. For example, an owner
who wishes to qualify for wildlife management use in 2010 must show that the
land was qualified for and appraised as agricultural land in 2009.
Current
Use
The second requirement for qualified wildlife
management use is that the owner must use the land to propagate a sustaining
breeding, migrating, or wintering population of indigenous wild animals.
Land may qualify for wildlife management use if
it is instrumental in supporting a sustaining breeding, migrating, or wintering
population. The group of animals need
not permanently live on the land provided they regularly migrate across the
land or seasonally live there.
A sustaining breeding population is a group of
indigenous wild animals large enough to live independently over several
generations. This definition implies
that the population will not die out because it produces enough animals to
continue as a viable group. The
The law requires an owner to propagate the
wildlife population for human use. Human
use may include food, medicine or recreation.
Using animals for food and medicine is self-explanatory. Food and medicine uses result in products and
require active participation. A
recreational use may be either active or passive and may include any type of
use for pleasure or sport. Bird
watching, hiking, hunting, photography, and other non-passive recreational or
hobby-type activities are qualifying recreational uses. An owner's passive enjoyment in owning and
managing the land for wildlife is a qualifying recreational use.
Management Activities
Required By Law
Under the law, an owner must perform at least
three of seven wildlife management activities on the land. An owner may qualify by doing more than three
of the listed activities, but may not engage in fewer than three.
Next is a short summary of each management
activity listed in the law.
·
Habitat Control (Habitat Management)
— A wild animal's habitat is its surroundings as a whole, including plants,
ground cover, shelter, and other animals on the land. Habitat control, or habitat management, means
actively using the land to create or promote an environment that is beneficial
to wildlife on the land. Removing
harmful parts of the environment when necessary to benefit wildlife is also
habitat management.
·
Erosion Control
— Any active practice that attempts to reduce or keep soil erosion to a minimum
for the benefit of wildlife is erosion control.
·
Predator Control (Predator Management)
— This term means practices intended to manage the population of predators to
benefit the owner's target wildlife population.
Predator control is usually not necessary unless the number of predators
is harmful to the desired wildlife population.
·
Providing Supplemental Supplies of Water
— Natural water exists in all wildlife environments. Supplemental water is provided when the owner
actively provides water in addition to the natural sources.
·
Providing Supplemental Supplies of Food
— Most wildlife environments have some natural food. An owner supplies supplemental food by
providing food and nutrition in addition to the level naturally produced on the
land.
·
Providing Shelter
— This term means actively creating or maintaining vegetation or artificial
structures that provide shelter from the weather, nesting and breeding sites,
or "escape cover" from enemies.
·
Making Census Counts to Determine
Population — Census counts are periodic surveys and
inventories to determine the number, composition, or other relevant information
about a wildlife population to measure if the current wildlife management
practices are serving the targeted species.
Principal Issues
Chief appraisers should remember that an owner's
wildlife management use must meet all the requirements to qualify for
agricultural use, defined in Section 23.51(1), Tax Code. The following is a short discussion of the
principal issues involved in agricultural use of land used for wildlife
management. For a thorough discussion of
these components, please refer to the Comptroller's Manual for the Appraisal
of Agricultural Land.
Primary
Use
The law requires agriculture to be the primary
use of the land. Wildlife management is
an agricultural use under the law. The
primary use requirement is particularly important for land used to manage
wildlife. For example, land devoted to wildlife
management can be used as a residence for the owner. But the land will not qualify if residential
use — and not wildlife management — is the land's primary use. The chief appraiser must gather and consider
all the surrounding facts to determine whether the land is primarily used to manage
wildlife. Some relevant questions
include:
·
Is the owner implementing an active,
written wildlife management plan that shows the owner is engaging in all the
activities necessary to preserve a sustaining breeding population on the
land? While the law does not require the
owner to have a management plan, a plan is clear evidence of the owner's use of
the land primarily for wildlife management.
A good plan will usually list wildlife management activities with the
appropriate seasons and the sequence of events.
·
Do the owner's management practices
emphasize managing the population to ensure its continued existence over
another use of the land? For example,
does the owner refrain from allowing visitors on the land in years when the
habitat is sensitive?
·
Has the owner engaged in the wildlife
management practices necessary to sustain and encourage growth of the
population? In some cases, an owner must
control predators and supply water when water is not adequate, supply shelter
and food when natural food production is not adequate, and establish vegetation
to control erosion. In other cases, less
active management may maintain and encourage the growth of wildlife.
·
Are there improvements — appropriate
fencing for example — necessary to control or sustain the wildlife
population? The owner may use land for
purposes that are secondary to the primary use of wildlife management if the
secondary use is compatible with the primary use. General principles of primary and secondary
use are discussed in the Manual for the Appraisal of Agricultural Land.
Degree of Intensity
The degree of intensity standard for wildlife
management land is determined in the same way as other agricultural uses. Wildlife management land usually requires
management of the land that encourages long-term maintenance of the population.
A chief appraiser may ask questions such as
whether fencing is typical in the area for managing the target population, and
what is the typical population size. In
addition, the chief appraiser should ask how many of the following activities
are typical in the area (or are typical for the area during some parts of the
year): habitat management, predator
management, erosion control, providing supplemental supplies of food or water,
providing shelter, and engaging in census counts.
Because wildlife management activities are
elements of the degree of intensity determination, the owner must be engaging
in three of seven principles of the degree of intensity test are discussed in
the Manual for the Appraisal of Agricultural Land.
History of Use
The land must have qualified for 1-d-1
agricultural use and have been appraised as 1-d-1 agricultural land in the year
before the owner changes use to wildlife management. Consequently, the time period test to determine
if the land has been used for agriculture for five of the preceding seven years
is usually not necessary.
Revenue
Neutral
The wildlife management use is a revenue neutral
use of land, meaning that the owner who switches from another agricultural use to
wildlife management use must initially pay the same amount of property taxes
that would have been paid if the land had remained in its former agricultural
use category.
Land qualified for wildlife management should be
placed in a wildlife management category, but should have the same appraised
value as before conversion to wildlife management use. For example, if the land was in Irrigated
Cropland 1 before the owner switched its use to wildlife management, the land
should be placed in the wildlife management category, but will be appraised at
the Irrigated Cropland 1 value.
Application
The law does not require an annual application
for agricultural use once the land has qualified. Because only 1-d-1 qualified land may qualify
for wildlife management use, the owner who changes to this use need not reapply
for agricultural appraisal.
The law, however, does require an owner who changes the category of agricultural use to notify the chief appraiser of the change of use. When an owner changes agricultural use to wildlife management, the owner must notify the chief appraiser in writing before May 1 of the year in which the owner wants to qualify under wildlife management use. The chief appraiser will then determine if the land qualifies for wildlife management use. Likewise, an owner must notify the chief appraiser if land is switched from wildlife management use to another qualifying agricultural use.
Ø Guidelines for
Qualification of Agricultural Land in Wildlife Management Use