In development since 2010, the management plan covers about 24,000ha of land down to the low water mark on Barrow Island and the nearby Boodie, Double and Middle Islands Nature Reserve, and proposes to add in the tiny Pasco Island to the reserve.
Environment Minister Albert Jacob said the WA government was committed to the ongoing protection of one of the state's most important conservation areas
"The islands are world-renowned for their environmental values and distinct biodiversity, with 23 threatened species on Barrow Island alone," Jacob said.
"Together with extensive cave ecosystems and important nesting beaches for marine turtles and migratory shorebirds, the diversity of habitat and fauna is unparalleled.
"The island's relative isolation and the application of a rigorous quarantine system have resulted in Barrow Island being the largest land mass in Australia that does not contain any introduced vertebrates and we are keen to protect this in the future."
The 10-year plan is the first since Chevron Corporation's massive Gorgon LNG project started development on a tiny section of Barrow Island.
The island has hosted oil and gas operations since 1964 with few infractions, although the tough operating and quarantine restrictions are one of the many reasons that Gorgon has been an expensive, logistically challenging development.
Although rated as one of the most important wildlife refuges in the world, Barrow Island's ecology remains essentially intact. Today, 378 native plants, 13 mammals, 43 reptiles - including native animals such as the perentie lizard - and 119 types of birds thrive alongside Chevron's WA Oil operations and Gorgon.
Invasive animals, such as the American cockroach and black rats have occasionally established footholds, but most have been successfully fought or eradicated.
Barrow Island has produced more than 320 million barrels of oil over the past 50 years.
Wells have been drilled on Boodie, Double and Middle Islands but petroleum has not been extracted.
Jacobs said the plan had been through an extensive consultation process, with the Department of Parks and Wildlife liaising with stakeholders including Chevron, the Department of Mines and Petroleum, Department of State Development, traditional custodians, conservation groups and community groups.
The plan was prepared by Parks and Wildlife on behalf of the Conservation Commission of WA and will be implemented alongside industry environmental management documents.
The major threats to biodiversity and other key values defined by the plan include land clearing, altered hydrological regimes, introduction of invasive species, altered fire regimes, gravel extraction and contamination and pollution.
The new management plan outlines ways of targeting those threats, such as developing a bushfire plan with Chevron, controlling artificial lighting and the invasive buffel grass.
But each move is scrutinised. Chevron is installing glass-reinforced epoxy flowlines, which are less likely than carbon steel flowlines to leak through corrosion, however, this could present a contamination risk as glass-reinforced epoxy flowlines are more vulnerable to fire than steel flowlines.
The 15 million tonne per annum Gorgon project is now more than 90% complete, but at a cost exceeding $US50 million.
It is one of the world's largest natural gas projects and the largest single resource development in Australia's history.
