Darling River Eco Corridor 9

Darling River Eco Corridor 9 is a Human-Induced Regeneration project located approximately 140km west of Bourke in the remote Mulga Lands bioregion of New South Wales. It was registered in April 2016 and covers a vast 38,302 hectares.

Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects involve changing land management practices to allow native forests to regenerate from natural, in-situ seed sources, rootstock, or lignotubers on land that was cleared of vegetation and suppressed for at least 10 years. Unlike traditional tree planting projects, HIR focuses on removing environmental suppressors. For this project, standard requirements and activities include strictly managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing and humanely controlling feral animals to allow the forest to recover.

The Upper Darling region is well-known for the extensive rangeland grazing of sheep, cattle, and goats. The surrounding environment is classified as a semi-arid to arid zone with low and highly variable rainfall, averaging roughly 280mm annually. Soils across the catchments typically consist of red sandy loams and red earths on the ridges, with heavier clay soils present in the low-lying claypans and floodplains.

This project was established on the northern block of "Salt Lake Pastoral," a property that has been leased by the Barton family since 1927. The family currently runs a resilient Dorper sheep business and partnered with Terra Carbon (a subsidiary of GreenCollar) to integrate sustainable grazing with native woodland regeneration. The carbon project has successfully resulted in improved ground cover, reduced erosion on the water flats, and a vibrant return of native species such as mulga and Sturt's Desert Pea. Furthermore, the generation of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) has provided the family with a vital and stable secondary income during frequent drought periods in NSW.