Darling River Eco Corridor #35

Darling River Eco Corridor #35 is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located roughly 220km northeast of Broken Hill and 75km northwest of White Cliffs in the Unincorporated Area of Far West New South Wales. Registered in May 2018, the project spans an expansive area of 17,851.71 hectares. The surrounding region's general land use is heavily dedicated to vast pastoral rangeland operations, predominantly grazing sheep and cattle.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve regenerating native forests by altering land management practices on land where native vegetation has previously been suppressed for at least 10 years. Rather than manually planting trees, landholders stop or reduce the suppressive activities. To meet the standard methodology requirements, the regenerating native forest must have the potential to reach a minimum of 20% crown cover and at least two metres in height. This specific project achieves permanent native forest regeneration from in-situ seed sources, rootstock, and lignotubers by carefully managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing, as well as humanely controlling feral animals.

The environment in this part of Far West New South Wales is classified as semi-arid, experiencing historically low and highly variable rainfall. The local soils are typically red earth, sandy loams, and skeletal soils on ridges, which are well-adapted to support hardy, drought-resistant native vegetation such as Mulga, Poplar Box, and White Cypress Pine woodlands.

As an interesting note, Darling River Eco Corridor #35 is part of a massive aggregation of similar carbon projects spearheaded by Terra Carbon Pty Limited, a subsidiary of Australia's largest environmental market developer, GreenCollar. By partnering with local pastoralists, these projects create a non-traditional revenue stream through the generation of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). This carbon income has been proven crucial in providing financial stability for landholders during severe regional droughts. The funding often facilitates major property infrastructure improvements, such as the construction of extensive exclusion fencing to manage feral goat and pig populations, which further protects both the regenerating forest and their core livestock business.