Department of Parks and Wildlife (Western Australia)

Department of Parks and Wildlife

Generic (Western Australia) shoulder patch for Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife officers, 2014
Agency overview
Formed	1 July 2013
Preceding agency	Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC)
Jurisdiction	Government of Western Australia
Agency executive	Mr Jim Sharp, Director General
Child agency	Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
Website	dpaw.wa.gov.au

The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) 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.

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

DPaW 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.

It was announced on 28 April 2017 that the Department of Parks and Wildlife would merge with the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, the Zoological Parks Authority, and the Rottnest Island Authority on 1 July 2017 to form the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

The Department of Parks and Wildlife has management responsibilities in:

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.