Wildlife Management Plan
El Paso County

The Trans-Pecos is the wild, mountainous frontier of far west Texas, encompassing the Chihuahuan Desert, the Davis Mountains, the Guadalupe Mountains, and the vast Chisos range of Big Bend. This is the most geographically diverse region in Texas, with elevations ranging from 2,500 feet along the Rio Grande to over 8,700 feet at Guadalupe Peak. The landscape is defined by desert grasslands, creosote flats, sotol-lechuguilla slopes, and sky-island forests of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir at the highest elevations. Rainfall averages 8 to 16 inches annually, concentrated in late-summer monsoonal thunderstorms.

Wildlife management in the Trans-Pecos is fundamentally about managing grazing pressure and protecting fragile desert grasslands from conversion to creosote-dominated shrubland. Once desert grasslands lose their perennial grass cover, recovery is extremely slow, measured in decades rather than years. Rotational grazing systems with long rest periods, minimal stocking rates, and strategic deferment during the monsoon growing season are essential. Water development is the highest-impact management practice in this arid landscape: solar-powered pumps lifting water from deep wells to wildlife-accessible troughs and guzzlers can transform the carrying capacity of desert rangeland. Predator management is a significant component of wildlife management plans in the Trans-Pecos, where mountain lion, coyote, and golden eagle all impact game populations.

Mule deer replace white-tailed deer as the dominant cervid in the Trans-Pecos, with desert mule deer occupying the lower desert grasslands and Carmen Mountains white-tailed deer found in the higher mountain ranges. Pronghorn populations have been intensively managed and restocked across the region. Desert bighorn sheep, reintroduced to several mountain ranges after historic extirpation, represent one of Texas's greatest wildlife restoration successes. The region supports exceptional raptor diversity, including golden eagle, zone-tailed hawk, and peregrine falcon nesting on cliff faces. Montezuma quail, a secretive species dependent on oak-grassland habitat in the sky-island mountains, is a management priority. The Chihuahuan Desert also harbors the Texas tortoise and several endemic lizard species.