This article is featured in the Spring 2025 issue of Texas LAND magazine. Click here to find out more.
For 40 years, the Texas Wildlife Association (TWA) has been putting boots on the Capitol grounds on behalf of Texas landowners, land managers and hunters.
“In 1985, a small group of Texas landowners and wildlife biologists founded TWA to be the voice for Texas’ wild places, wild things and the people who care for them,” said TWA president Jonathan Letz, a sixth generation Texan who manages his family’s ranching operation in Kerr County. “As an organization, it is our honor and responsibility to advocate for our critical natural resources and private landowners who steward those resources for every Texan.”
Despite 94 percent of Texas being privately owned and stewarded, landowners make up a very small percentage of the state’s ever-growing population. According to the most recent Texas Landowner Survey released by the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, landowners comprise one percent of the state’s residents.
And yet, the impact of private land stewards is tremendous. For instance, TWA counts 7,500 landowner, land managers and hunters on its membership rolls; collectively these members own/manage 35 million acres of working land across the state.
TWA CEO Justin Dreibelbis said, “While our numbers are relatively small, landowners play a disproportionate role in safeguarding the state’s natural infrastructure that supports its economy and quality of life. TWA brings landowners, land managers and hunters together and amplifies their voice, so it can be heard over the clamor of urban and suburban interests.”
And perhaps, there has never been a more important time for Texas landowners to be heard. The state’s growth, which has been on an unprecedented increase since the 1990s, has pushed the Lone Star State’s population to more than 30 million, most of whom live in cities and suburbs. In the process, it has created a voracious demand for water, building materials, energy and land for sprawling infrastructure.
“Ironically, our working lands and all the valuable ecosystem services they provide are under siege at the moment in history when we need them the most,” Dreibelbis said.
In fact, Texas holds the unenviable distinction of losing open space working lands—nature’s factories for clean air, plentiful water and biodiversity—faster than any other state in the nation. According to the Texas Agricultural Land Trust, Texas is losing this vital land at a rate of 42.6 acres per hour or more than 1,000 acres per day.
Letz said, “Because the vast majority of the state’s population is so far removed from land and the natural world, there is a big misconception and lack of understanding about the connection and inter-relationship between our natural resources and the urban and suburban areas of the state. Not only does this make our advocacy more challenging, but this reality also makes it more crucial.”
In 2023, the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University reported that Texas was 83.7 percent urban. This demographic reality is reflected in the political landscape as well as the geographic one. In the aftermath of federal redistricting in 2021, Texas’ representation was even more decidedly urban. Out of the 31 Texas Senate seats and 150 Texas House seats, only three are now considered rural districts, or districts where most counties have a population of less than 100,000 people.
As result, TWA’s advocacy is education forward. To supplement its outstanding duo of lobbyists, Joey Park and Mignon McGarry, and the organization’s staff, the officer team and members are regular fixtures during the biennial session. The most notable presence is the biennial “Boots on the Ground” gathering where members from across the state congregate in Austin during early February to meet with their legislators. This year’s event was held on February 4-5.
“Nothing is more effective than legislators and their staff members hearing their constituents’ experiences and concerns first-hand,” Dreibelbis said. “Connecting names, faces and stories to an issue, transforms it from theoretical to personal because then it matters to real people in the real world.”
Through the years, TWA’s signature mix of educational advocacy has delivered big wins for Texas landowners. The organization’s greatest hits for land, water and wildlife include expanding agricultural and forestry tax valuation to include wildlife management, strengthening landowner liability protection, codifying land stewardship as a recognized water management tool in the state’s water plan, and helping create the Texas Farm and Ranch Land’s Conservation Program among many others.
Letz said, “From the beginning, TWA and its members have walked the walk while talking the talk on behalf of wildlife, habitat, landowners, private property rights and hunters. Our state leaders know that we combine science-based information with a commitment to doing what is right for wild things and wild places.
“And as a result, we’ve earned an excellent reputation as trusted allies which has translated—will continue to translate—into success for everyone and everything that depends on rural land.”
TWA’s Legislative Priorities
89th Texas Legislature
January 14, 2025 – June 2, 2025
During the 89th Session of the Texas Legislature, TWA will focus its educational advocacy on the following areas:
Texas Parks & Wildlife Funding
• TWA supports funding for TPWD to ensure the agency can address its needs and maintains that dedicated funds continue to be directed to the department.
• TWA supports $30 million over the biennium for the Texas Farm & Ranchland Conservation Program, our most valuable tool in keeping working lands intact for generations.
Groundwater Ownership & Conservation
• TWA supports the Texas Constitution and more than 100 years of caselaw in protecting and reaffirming that groundwater, including brackish groundwater, is the vested, real property of private landowners.
Renewable Energy Development
• TWA supports innovative solutions to ensure that the siting of renewable projects mitigates impacts to neighboring lands and minimizes disturbance to native wildlife while protecting private property rights.
Wildlife & Disease Management Issues
• Public ownership of wildlife is central to the North American Model of Conservation. TWA strongly opposes any effort to transfer Texas native wildlife to private ownership.
• TWA supports tax policies and other tools that ensure property owners’ ability to effectively manage their lands and resources for the benefit of all Texans.
Find Out More
For more information about TWA including its legislative efforts, see
Texas-Wildlife.org