Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program (TFRLCP)

The Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program is a state matching-grant program administered by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. It provides funding to land trusts to purchase conservation easements from willing landowners, protecting agricultural and timber lands from development or fragmentation.

Yes. Unlike a donated conservation easement (which generates a tax deduction), the TFRLCP is a purchase program. A land trust receives the grant and uses it to pay you for your development rights. You receive a direct cash payment.

Landowners do not apply directly. Land trusts submit grant applications to TPWD on behalf of willing landowners. The application window is typically June through July, with awards announced by September 1. Contact a land trust in your area before the window opens.

TPWD does not publish a fixed annual figure, and there is no guaranteed yearly amount. Funding is subject to appropriation to the TFRLCP by the Texas Legislature, which works on a biennial budget cycle, so the money available varies from biennium to biennium. Awards also vary by project: the program typically funds a portion of the total easement cost, with the land trust and other sources covering the remainder. TPWD publishes its approved grant projects, which is the reliable way to see what has actually been awarded.

If the purchase price is less than the full appraised value (a "bargain sale"), you can receive a federal tax deduction for the difference. For example, if your easement is appraised at $500,000 and the TFRLCP pays $300,000, you may deduct the remaining $200,000 as a charitable contribution.

House Bill 2018 (89th Legislature, Regular Session), effective September 1, 2025, wrote timber into the program. It amended Parks and Wildlife Code 84.002(1) so an agricultural conservation easement is one designed to maintain the land's "agricultural or timber use," amended 84.009(a)(9)(B) to match, changed the grant criteria in 84.010(1) to prioritize protecting "agricultural or timber productivity," and added a new scoring factor at 84.010(2)(F) for the land's agricultural or timber productivity. It did not change who runs the program or how much discretion the council has.

No. Parks and Wildlife Code 84.004(a) allows an agricultural conservation easement under this program to be perpetual or for a term of 30 years, and the term is one of the scoring factors the council weighs. This matters for federal taxes: IRC 170(h)(2)(C) requires a perpetual restriction, so a 30-year term easement does not qualify as a qualified conservation contribution and generates no federal income tax deduction, including on the donated portion of a bargain sale. If any part of your plan depends on a federal deduction, the easement has to be perpetual.