Texas Land Use Trends - 10 Year Percent Change

At 92.6 million acres, native rangeland continues to be the prevailing general category of land use in Texas. Since 1997, the accumulated localized losses of native rangeland have exceeded 4.8 million acres. In addition, the statewide area in dry (non-irrigated) cropland has declined by 1.57 million acres.
One of the most notable trends continues to be the conversion of native rangelands and croplands to non-native pastures. Non-native pastures now account for over 11 million acres and are the third largest land use category in the state.
A more recent trend in land use is a shift to “wildlife management” following state legislation in 1996 that created the official land use category for tax appraisal purposes. Since then, lands classified as being in wildlife management have increased to 2.37 million acres. Some of the local decline can be attributed to the shift in reporting native rangeland as wildlife management.