Darling River Eco Corridor #34

Darling River Eco Corridor #34 is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located approximately 70km northeast of Bourke in the remote Far West region of New South Wales. Registered in May 2018, the project encompasses a significant area of 23,260 hectares within the Mulga Lands bioregion. It is part of a larger aggregation of projects known as the "Darling River Eco Corridor," managed by Terra Carbon (a subsidiary of GreenCollar), which aims to create contiguous zones of protected vegetation in the upper catchments of the Darling River system.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects focus on restoring native forest cover on land where vegetation has been suppressed for at least 10 years, typically by grazing or mechanical clearing. The methodology requires the cessation of these suppression activities, in this case, primarily through the management of livestock timing and the humane control of feral animals like goats and pigs. To generate credits, the regenerating forest must eventually achieve a canopy cover of at least 20% and a tree height of 2 meters.

The project sits within a semi-arid climate zone characterized by low, variable rainfall and hot summers. The terrain features a mix of flats, floodplains, and slightly undulating sandy ridges. The soil profile is dominated by red sandy loams on the ridges and heavier clay soils (Vertosols) in the low-lying floodplains. The region is traditionally used for rangeland grazing of sheep, cattle, and goats.

This specific project reportedly covers three properties in the Bourke Shire, including land managed by the Pattrick family. The carbon project provided essential financial diversification during severe drought conditions, allowing the landholders to invest in infrastructure such as exclusion fencing. Native vegetation regenerating in the area includes species such as Turpentine (Eremophila sturtii), Hop Bush (Dodonaea viscosa), Mulga (Acacia aneura), and Poplar Box (Eucalyptus populnea).