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Department of Parks and Wildlife (Western Australia)

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Formed
  
1 July 2013

Website
  
dpaw.wa.gov.au

Department of Parks and Wildlife (Western Australia)

Preceding agency
  
Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC)

Jurisdiction
  
Government of Western Australia

Agency executive
  
Mr Jim Sharp, Director General

The Department of Parks and Wildlife (P&W) is a department of the Government of Western Australia. It is responsible for managing lands described in the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984 and implementing the state's conservation and environment legislation and regulations. The minister responsible for the department is the Minister for the Environment.

Contents

The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) was separated on 30 June 2013 forming the Department of Parks and Wildlife (P&W) and the Department of Environment Regulation (DER) which both commenced operations on 1 July 2013.

P&W focuses on managing multiple use state forests, national parks, marine parks and reserves.

DER focuses on environmental regulation, approvals and appeals processes, and pollution prevention.

Status (at 30 June 2016)

The Department of Parks and Wildlife has management responsibilities in:

  • State forests (1,304,154 ha),
  • 100 national parks (6,248,684 ha),
  • 17 conservation parks (856,393 ha),
  • 13 marine parks (2,239,612 ha),
  • 1 marine nature reserve (132,000 ha),
  • nature reserves (10,248,014 ha), and
  • other lands and waters throughout the state.

    • At 30 June 2016, the total area under Parks and Wildlife's care was 29,192,323 ha. The land area managed by the Department is about 10.3 per cent of the land area of Western Australia.

    The lands and waters managed by the Department received in 2014-15 18.6 million visits a year, with visitor satisfaction at a high level of 89%. The average level of visitor satisfaction with their visit on Parks & Wildlife lands and waters was of 91.4% in 2015-16.

    10,910 people were registered volunteers with the Department in 2014-15 that helped in a range of projects across the State with 610,000 hours contributed. During 2015-16, 5,189 active volunteers of the total 13,737 registered individuals contributed 638,747 voluntary hours to more than 200 Parks and Wildlife environmental and recreational programs.

    Parks and Wildlife is responsible for the wildlife conservation project Western Shield which is pest animal control (4 million hectares of conservation reserves and State forests baited for feral animal control) as well as weed control on more than 89 million hectares of unallocated Crown land and unmanaged reserves.

    There are a number of internationally recognised biodiversity hotspots within Western Australia and in particular in the South West of the State.

    Parks and Wildlife also manages two of the world's greatest long distance trails: the 1,000 km Bibbulmun Track for walkers, and the 1,000 km Munda Biddi Trail for cyclists.

    An important duty of the Department (with the help of the Forest Products Commission crews) is to be responsible for bushfire prevention and suppression on its lands as well as fire prevention in unallocated Crown land and unmanaged reserves by:

  • managing fuel loads through prescribed burning and other means,
  • responding to bushfires and
  • undertaking research into fire behaviour and effects.

    • Some of the most severe West Australian bushfires that the Department had to suppress, in chronological order, have included:

    Preceding agencies

    Earlier forms of Nature conservation in Western Australia were under:

  • Department of Lands and Surveys: 1 January 1890 - (partly split) 31 December 1895
  • Wood and Forests Department: 1 January 1896 – 31 December 1918
  • Forests Department: 1 January 1919 – 21 March 1985
  • State Gardens Board: 15 December 1920 – 30 April 1957 (Parks and Reserves Act 1895)
  • National Parks Board: 1 May 1957 – 30 July 1977
  • Department of Fisheries and Fauna: 1 October 1964 – 31 December 1973
  • National Parks Authority: 1 August 1977 – 15 April 1985 National Parks Authority (National Parks Authority Act 1976)
  • Wildlife section of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife: 1 January 1974 – 21 March 1985 Department of Fisheries and Wildlife
  • Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM): 22 March 1985 – 30 June 2006 (Conservation and Land Management Act 1984)
  • Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC): 1 July 2006 – 30 June 2013
  • Swan River Trust: 1989 (Swan and Canning Rivers Management Act 2006) - 1 July 2015

    • Vehicles

    The Department maintains and coordinates a range of specialist equipment and emergency response vehicles. This includes pumpers and tankers and other equipment relating to operations involving search and rescue and firefighting.

    Uniforms and equipment

    The Department of Parks and Wildlife has 3 types of uniforms:

  • a standard khaki and bottle green uniform with appropriate badging is supplied to and worn by staff whose duties include the monitoring of legislative compliance (National Park and Marine Rangers, Conservation and Land Management Officers, Forest Officers, Wildlife Officers and Authorised CALM Officers under Bush Fire Act),
  • a work wear (khaki and bottle green only with generic badge) for those that work in the field and personal protective equipment or clothing (TecaSafe gold overshirt, TecaSafe dark green trousers and vest, Kevlar helmet with goggles, gloves, belt and fire boots) for staff who are involved in fire management activities,
  • a corporate apparel worn by employees who are in regular contact with the public or members of other departments (sand, grey or white shirt, black trousers).

    • References

    Department of Parks and Wildlife (Western Australia) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA