Darling River Eco Corridor #36

Darling River Eco Corridor #36 is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located in the remote rangelands of Western New South Wales, approximately 45km south of Wanaaring and 180km west of Bourke. Registered in May 2018, the project covers a substantial area of roughly 57,164 hectares within the Bourke Shire Council local government area. The region is part of the Western Division, where the predominant land use is extensive grazing of sheep, goats, and cattle on leasehold properties.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve managing land to allow native forests to regenerate from existing soil seed banks or suppressed rootstock, rather than planting new trees. For this specific project, the primary activities include managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing and actively controlling feral animals (such as goats) to reduce pressure on vegetation. This allows native species, likely Mulga (Acacia aneura), Hopbush, and Leopardwood, to reach forest cover status.

The environment in this part of the Mulga Lands bioregion is semi-arid to arid, characterized by low and highly variable rainfall, averaging roughly 250mm to 300mm annually. The terrain typically features flat to undulating red sandy loam soils (Red Kandosols or Earths) and siliceous sands, with some grey clays found in low-lying depressions or claypans.

An interesting aspect of the "Darling River Eco Corridor" is its aggregated nature; it is part of a large-scale initiative by GreenCollar (via its subsidiary Terra Carbon) to create a continuous corridor of regenerated native vegetation across multiple pastoral properties. This landscape-scale approach aims to improve drought resilience for graziers by providing a diversified income stream while enhancing biodiversity connectivity west of the Darling River.