THE Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) has three months to respond to an inquiry that found it responsible for the deaths of hundreds of animals.
The inquiry, conducted by the economics and industry standing committee, began five months ago after numerous complaints from pastoralists about DEC's lack of management and communication on their pastoral leases.
Committee chairman Mike Nahan said there also were various reports by the media about the inhumane treatment of animals on the properties.
"What the inquiry found was that DEC, even though it had a good neighbourly policy, was in many instances and many dimensions not adhering to that policy," Mr Nahan said.
"They wouldn't communicate with their neighbours at all but in the region you have to work together to eradicate pests and that wasn't well done by DEC."
In 1999, the DEC bought about six billion hectares with the aim of expanding conservation and taking over some of the more degraded properties.
But Mr Nahan said that when DEC took over the leases they pulled caretakers off the properties, stopped paying council rates and protection board rates and pulled money out of joint efforts to eradicate pests.
He said when they destocked they often did it in a "very sloppy manner" and didn't monitor it, leaving native animals to die in terrible circumstance because water supplies had been shut down.
"They weren't working together with their neighbours to maintain pests, they pulled people out of work and they weren't adequately funding," Mr Nahan said.
"The overwhelming problem was that they spent all the money purchasing the properties and didn't have enough money to manage them."
Mr Nahan said there were about 15 recommendations including implementing the Good Neighbour Policy, funding joint activity, communicating with neighbours and placing caretakers on the properties.
"They also have to make sure when they close properties down they do it in a humane manner and don't buy anymore land when they can't manage what they have," he said.
The DEC has three months to illustrate how it will respond to the inquiry.
"It has co-operated with us and has agreed that its actions contributed to the deaths of some animals," Mr Nahan said.
Pastoralists and Graziers Association (PGA) vice president Ruth Webb-Smith said it was time the positive and advantageous assessment of permanent watering points for both native and commercial stock was accurately assessed.
"The fauna conditions in WA have been increased and protected over the past two centuries through management and water development in pastoral regions," Ms Webb-Smith said.
"In the eyes of common sense it is obvious what the effect of cutting off watering points would be for both natural fauna and remaining commercial stock."
Ms Webb-Smith said buying up pastoral stations for the sake of conservation alone was having the opposite outcome.
"Not only is there natural fauna loss but it also incurs economic and infrastructure loss to the pastoral industry and increased costs for the State Government if management of these stations is not carried out properly.
"With the possibility of social and community loss and cultural threats, there is much work to be done with real dollars doing real work."
WAFarmers climate change and land management spokesman Dale Park welcomed the release of the inquiry and said the heart of the problem was DEC's difficulties fulfilling its animal and weed control obligations.
WAFarmers believe the findings are transferable to the Wheatbelt and South West, where inadequate levels of funding had seen an increased number of pest animals and weeds on state managed land.
"We continue to see the impact feral pests through a large area of the state and farmers are extremely frustrated that feral pests continue to build in numbers on DEC managed land," Mr Park said.
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