Darling River Eco Corridor #31

Darling River Eco Corridor #31 is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located approximately 114km northeast of White Cliffs in outback New South Wales. It was registered in November 2017 and covers a project area of 26,134.02 hectares. The project is situated in the Mulga Lands bioregion, an area characterized by relatively flat terrain where the dominant regional land use is pastoralism, heavily focused on the grazing of sheep and cattle.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve establishing permanent native forests by actively managing or ceasing activities that have historically hindered natural plant regrowth, rather than physically planting new trees. Under this specific methodology, standard requirements dictate that the target land must have been cleared of native vegetation, with natural regrowth suppressed for at least 10 years prior to project commencement. The objective is for the area to achieve true "forest cover," which is defined as land having trees that reach at least 2 metres in height and provide a crown cover of at least 20%.

The surrounding Mulga Lands environment features a semi-arid climate with highly unpredictable rainfall that typically ranges from 300mm to 450mm annually. The local soils consist predominantly of infertile, red sandy earths and slightly undulating plains. These conditions naturally support drought-adapted grasses, shrubs, and characteristic Mulga (Acacia aneura) and eucalypt woodlands.

This project establishes permanent native forests through assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, including resilient rootstock and lignotubers. To accomplish this, the primary project activities focus on the careful management of the timing and extent of livestock grazing, alongside the humane management of feral animals. Feral goats are particularly prevalent and destructive in this region, making controlled grazing, fencing upgrades, and strategic water management critical steps for success. In addition to sequestering carbon, which is modeled for this project using FullCAM 2016, these management activities actively help reverse historic land degradation and stabilize the region's sandy soils, significantly reducing erosion. Furthermore, the project's proponent, Terra Carbon Pty Limited, holds an active Carbon Abatement Contract for fixed delivery of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) generated by this project to the Commonwealth Government.