'Darling River Eco Corridor #32

Darling River Eco Corridor #32 is a Human-Induced Regeneration project located approximately 35-40km northwest of Bourke in New South Wales. Registered in November 2017, the project is managed by Terra Carbon Pty Limited, a subsidiary of environmental markets developer GreenCollar, and spans an area of 19,847.21 hectares.

Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects involve regenerating native forests by changing land management practices to remove "suppressors" that previously hindered tree growth. Standard requirements dictate that the project must achieve a native forest cover, eventually reaching at least 20% canopy cover with trees capable of growing to 2 metres in height.

The Bourke region is well known for extensive pastoral operations, predominantly sheep and cattle grazing, as well as irrigated cropping such as cotton near the Darling River. The area is situated in a semi-arid climate, experiencing hot summers and low, variable rainfall averaging roughly 330mm annually. Local soil types vary across the landscape, generally featuring cracking clays (Vertosols) near river floodplains, alongside red earths and sandy loams (Kandosols and Chromosols) on the ridges.

This project establishes permanent native forests through assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, including rootstock and lignotubers. It operates on land that was previously cleared of vegetation and where natural regrowth had been suppressed for at least 10 years prior to the project's commencement. To achieve this, the primary project activities include managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing, as well as the humane management of feral animals.

Darling River Eco Corridor #32 is part of a massive aggregation of carbon projects known as the Darling River Eco-Corridor. Covering over 150,000 hectares throughout northwestern New South Wales and southwestern Queensland, this suite of projects aims to create a contiguous zone of protected vegetation to improve biodiversity connectivity while providing alternative income streams to local graziers.