Erosion Control for Your Texas Wildlife Exemption: What Counts and How to Document It

Erosion control is one of the seven qualifying wildlife management practices for maintaining a Texas wildlife exemption. While it may seem like a land management activity rather than a wildlife practice, healthy soils are the foundation of productive wildlife habitat. When topsoil erodes, vegetation quality declines, water sources become silted, and the land's ability to support wildlife degrades.

What Qualifies as Erosion Control?

Erosion control for wildlife management purposes involves implementing practices that prevent soil loss, protect water quality, and maintain the structural integrity of the landscape. This is particularly important on properties with steep terrain, active creek systems, overgrazed areas, or exposed soil from construction or clearing activities.

The distinction from standard agricultural erosion control is intent — your erosion control efforts must be documented as benefiting wildlife habitat, not just protecting farmland productivity.

Erosion Control Activities That Count for Your Annual Report

The following activities qualify as erosion control under TPWD guidelines:

• Building terraces and water bars — Constructing earthen terraces on slopes to slow water runoff and reduce sheet erosion. Water bars across roads and trails redirect runoff and prevent gully formation.
• Establishing vegetative buffers — Planting or maintaining strips of dense vegetation along creeks, rivers, and drainage ways. These riparian buffers filter sediment, protect water quality, and provide critical wildlife corridors.
• Reseeding bare or disturbed areas — Planting native grasses and forbs on exposed soil from construction, overgrazing, or natural erosion. Bare ground produces no wildlife food and loses topsoil rapidly during rain events.
• Creek and waterway stabilization — Reinforcing eroding creek banks with rock, vegetation, or bioengineering techniques. Stable creek banks provide better aquatic habitat and protect downstream water sources.
• Trail and road management — Maintaining ranch roads and trails to prevent erosion — proper drainage, gravel surfacing, water diversion structures, and seasonal closures of vulnerable routes during wet periods.
• Gully repair — Filling and stabilizing active gullies with rock check dams, brush packing, or native grass establishment before they expand and consume productive habitat.

How to Document Erosion Control for Your PWD-888

Erosion control documentation should include photos of the problem area before treatment, the treatment in progress, and the results afterward. Measure the length or area treated. For vegetative buffers, document the width and species planted. Always state the wildlife benefit — for example, 'Stabilized 200 feet of creek bank to protect water quality and maintain aquatic habitat for white-tailed deer, turkey, and migratory waterfowl.'

Pro tip: Log each erosion control activity immediately after performing it. Trying to reconstruct a year's worth of activities from memory in March is the most common reason annual reports are incomplete or unconvincing.

Ecoregion-Specific Considerations

Erosion vulnerability varies significantly across Texas. Properties in the Cross Timbers and Rolling Plains ecoregions on sandy soils are particularly susceptible. Edwards Plateau properties with thin limestone soils lose productivity quickly when topsoil erodes. Gulf Prairies properties face different challenges with coastal wind erosion and storm surge impacts.

How Erosion Control Fits Into Your Overall Program

Remember that Texas requires at least 3 of the 7 wildlife management practices each year. Erosion Control pairs well with other practices — for example, habitat control activities naturally support erosion control and supplemental shelter goals. The most efficient approach is combining multiple practices into each ranch visit and documenting all of them.

For a complete overview of all seven practices, see our Wildlife Management Practices guide.