LAND IN TEXAS
Protection and Loss Aggregate Numbers

Years of settlement, cultivation, lumbering, grazing and development have taken their toll on Texas' natural legacy.

HISTORIC LAND LOSS

Texas has drained 54%, or 8.4 million acres, of its wetlands , an area 6 times the King Ranch.

Of the 12.5 million acres of blackland prairie in the state, less than 5000 acres remains.

60% of Texas original bottomland hardwoods and riparian vegetation has been lost, and losses continue at a rate of about 12% per decade.

LAND PROTECTION

Only 1.6% of Texas lands are protected as parks.

Less than 3% of Texas lands are publicly owned , one tenth of the average in the lower 48 states.

Less than 1/10 of a per cent of the current Texas state budget is spent on land, water, wildlife, farm, ranch and historic resource conservation and protection.

Texas open space protection program is rated 46 th in the nation, based on comparisons of agricultural acreage destroyed, quality of agricultural zoning, extent of floodplain development, and prevalence of development rights swaps.

Texas foundations spend roughly 3% of their program budget on environmental protection.

ONGOING LAND LOSS

The 144 million acres of private land in Texas are valued at $75 billion on the market, yet have only $12 billion in productive value, creating a $63 billion pressure to sell and fragment private farm and ranch lands.

The average rural landowner is in his or her late 50s, has a low basis in the land, and faces 55% death duties on his or her estate.

60% of rural tracts in Texas are already less than 180 acres in size , and the average farm and ranch size has declined in 74% of Texas counties since 1992.

Texas loses 1000 acres of farm and ranch lands to sprawl every day; the 13-county Houston metro area alone loses 130,000 acres per year.