1. Data Sources
Every plan draws from 10 authoritative federal and state datasets. No proprietary data is used. All sources are publicly maintained by the issuing agency and updated on their published schedules.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
RTEST Species Occurrence Database
Provides: Species occurrence records by county. 1,053 species across 18,111 county-level occurrence records covering all 254 Texas counties.
Used for: Identifies qualifying species for each property based on documented county-level occurrence. Species are filtered by federal (USESA) and state (SPROT) listing status.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP)
Provides: Habitat narratives, threat assessments, conservation actions, and species of greatest conservation need designations.
Used for: Generates species intelligence profiles with habitat requirements, known threats, and recommended conservation actions for target species.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
SSURGO Soil Survey
Provides: Soil map units, drainage class, hydric rating, hydrologic soil group, and taxonomic classification at the parcel level.
Used for: Builds soil profiles for each property. Determines practice feasibility based on drainage characteristics, hydric status, and soil composition.
U.S. Geological Survey
3DEP 10-Meter Digital Elevation Models
Provides: Elevation, slope, aspect, hillshade, and contour data at 10-meter resolution.
Used for: Terrain analysis for practice siting, erosion risk assessment, and habitat characterization.
Federal Emergency Management Agency
National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL)
Provides: Flood zone designations, Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) determination, and base flood elevation data.
Used for: Constraint mapping. Identifies flood-prone areas that affect practice placement and land use planning.
Texas Natural Resources Information System
StratMap Statewide Parcels
Provides: Parcel boundaries for 10.5 million parcels across 249 Texas counties.
Used for: Property identification, boundary delineation, and acreage verification.
Texas A&M GeoServices
Geocoding, Reverse Geocoding, Census Tract Enrichment
Provides: Address-to-coordinate resolution, coordinate-to-address lookup, and census tract/block/FIPS code assignment.
Used for: Address resolution and geographic enrichment during the intake process.
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
CropScape Cropland Data Layer
Provides: Satellite-derived crop history showing land cover classification by year.
Used for: Documents prior agricultural use, which is relevant to qualifying for wildlife management valuation under Tex. Tax Code Section 23.521.
iNaturalist / Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Species Observation Records
Provides: Community-submitted and research-grade species observations with geographic coordinates.
Used for: Supplemental species documentation and photographic reference material.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
eBird Observation Database
Provides: Recent bird observation records with species identification, date, and location.
Used for: Avian species verification and seasonal presence confirmation.
2. Ecoregion Classification
Texas is divided into 12 ecological regions under 34 TAC Section 9.2002. Each ecoregion has specific intensity standards governing the frequency, timing, and scale of wildlife management practices. A plan written for the Post Oak Savannah will differ materially from one written for the Trans-Pecos, even if the same practices are selected.
The system assigns each property to its ecoregion based on geographic coordinates. Properties that span ecoregion boundaries are assigned to the ecoregion containing the parcel centroid. The corresponding intensity standards from the TPWD Comprehensive Wildlife Management Planning Guidelines are then applied to every practice recommendation in the plan.
Ecoregion assignment determines minimum acreage thresholds, brush management percentages, census methodology requirements, and supplemental feeding restrictions. These values are not configurable by the user; they are set by TPWD for each ecoregion and enforced by the plan generation engine.
3. Species Analysis
Species identification begins with a query against the TPWD RTEST database, filtered to the county containing the property. The query returns all species with documented occurrence records in that county, including federal listing status (Endangered, Threatened) and state listing status (State Threatened).
Returned species are scored for habitat suitability using six environmental variables: elevation, slope, soil type, proximity to water features, vegetation density, and land cover classification. Species with high habitat match scores and documented occurrence in the property county are selected as target species for the plan.
Target species selection considers management feasibility alongside ecological relevance. Species requiring specialized infrastructure or habitat conditions not present on the property are excluded. The final species list is used to generate species intelligence profiles drawing from TPWD SWAP habitat narratives, conservation status, and known threats.
4. Management Practice Selection
Texas law requires a minimum of 3 of the 7 recognized wildlife management practices for a qualifying plan. The seven practices are: habitat control, erosion control, predator control, providing supplemental water, providing supplemental food, providing shelters, and making census counts to determine population.
The builder guides landowners through practice selection based on property characteristics, existing infrastructure, and management objectives. Each selected practice is paired with ecoregion-specific intensity standards that define the required frequency, timing window, and scale of activity. These standards are published by TPWD in the Comprehensive Wildlife Management Planning Guidelines and vary by ecoregion.
For example, supplemental feeding in the Edwards Plateau ecoregion has different intensity requirements than the same practice in the Gulf Prairies and Marshes ecoregion. The plan engine applies the correct standards automatically based on the ecoregion assignment established in step 2.
5. Plan Generation
The deliverable is generated from the property analysis data. No templates are filled in with generic content. Every section is computed from the specific property: the species list is drawn from that county's TPWD records, the soil profile is built from that parcel's SSURGO data, the terrain analysis is derived from the USGS DEM covering that location, and the prescriptions are calibrated to that ecoregion's intensity standards.
The generation pipeline produces a multi-section PDF, a pre-filled PWD-885 form, an interactive property map with satellite imagery and constraint layers, and a companion field guide explaining each practice in plain language. All documents reference the same underlying dataset, ensuring internal consistency across the deliverable package.
The interactive map renders the property boundary over 3D terrain with toggleable layers for ecoregion context, flood zones, soil types, and species occurrence data. The map is generated as a self-contained HTML file that can be viewed in any modern browser without an internet connection.
6. Quality Assurance
Every plan passes through a three-layer quality assurance system before delivery.
Layer 1: Automated validation. Over 50 validation rules check the plan for correctness. These include: correct ecoregion assignment relative to geographic coordinates, minimum species count thresholds, practice intensity compliance against TPWD guidelines, parcel boundary accuracy within tolerance, and completeness of all statutory citations required by Tex. Tax Code Section 23.521.
Layer 2: Delivery validation. File integrity checks confirm that every PDF renders correctly, page counts match expected ranges, all linked assets (maps, forms, guides) are present and accessible, and file sizes fall within normal parameters.
Layer 3: Deployment gate. Reports that fail any QA check are not published. The deployment gate prevents incomplete or non-conforming plans from reaching the delivery endpoint. Failed reports are flagged for manual review and correction before resubmission.
7. Filing and Acceptance
Per 34 TAC Section 9.2003(a), county appraisal districts may accept any wildlife management plan that contains the information required by TPWD. The statute does not mandate a specific plan format or require preparation by a licensed biologist.
Every plan produced by Thorpe Land Services includes all elements specified by TPWD: ownership and property description, landowner management goals, target species identification, selected management practices with ecoregion-specific activities, and intensity standards validated against TPWD guidelines.
The pre-filled PWD-885 Wildlife Management Plan form is included with each deliverable. This is the official TPWD form (PWD 885-W7000) used for submission to county chief appraisers alongside Comptroller Form 50-129. The form is populated with property-specific data from the plan and is ready for the landowner's signature.