How to switch from an ag exemption to a wildlife exemption

Why owners make the switch

Running livestock or cutting hay is real work, and leasing to a rancher is not always an option. Wildlife lets you keep the same low land value while managing the land for deer, birds, and native habitat instead. For owners whose land suits wildlife better than a herd, it is a way to hold the valuation without the ranching.

The one thing you must have first: the ag valuation

You cannot jump to wildlife on land that has never had the ag valuation. The land already has to be on the ag valuation, and your county generally wants it to have carried that valuation the year before you switch. A wildlife plan moves an existing valuation from farming or ranching to wildlife. It does not create one on raw land.

One catch: if your land was recently split off a larger ag property, your county may apply a minimum-size test before it allows wildlife. And if your land is not on the ag valuation yet, start with the ag route first, then switch to wildlife in a later year. Check with your county for how these rules apply.

What the switch involves

Once the land is on the ag valuation, converting to wildlife comes down to a few steps.

• Pick at least three practices. Choose three or more of the seven approved kinds of wildlife management that fit your land. They are habitat control, erosion control, predator control, supplemental water, supplemental food, supplemental shelter, and census counts.
• Write the wildlife plan. Put it on the state wildlife plan form (PWD-885), naming the species you are managing for and what you will do for them.
• File with your county. Send the plan with the county application to your appraisal district, generally by April 30.
• Do the work and keep records. Carry out the practices and document them each year, so the plan holds up if the county asks.

It does not raise your taxes

This is the fear that stops people, and it is pointed at the wrong thing. The switch is not the risk. Wildlife is the same low land value as ag, not a step up to market value, so a proper switch keeps the land in the same low valuation it already had. The tax on the land does not change because you moved from cattle to wildlife. The real risk comes later: the low value only holds while you keep up the work, so letting the plan lapse is what puts it in danger. Not legal or tax advice, and your county has the final say.

After you convert: keeping it

A wildlife plan is not file-and-forget. Each year you actually do the practices you committed to and keep dated proof, like photos, receipts, and census notes. That record is what a county looks for, and it is the difference between a plan that holds and one that gets questioned.

See how to keep a wildlife management practices log for what to record.