Darling River Conservation Initiative - Site #2

Darling River Conservation Initiative - Site #2 is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located approximately 80km northwest of Cobar in New South Wales. Registered in October 2018, the project encompasses 17,733 hectares of semi-arid rangeland situated within the Cobar Peneplain bioregion. The site sits between the town of Cobar and the Darling River, in an area historically dominated by grazing operations for sheep and goats.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve regenerating native forests by suppressing activities that prevent growth, such as intensive livestock grazing or the clearing of vegetation. In this specific project, the proponent manages the timing and extent of grazing and controls feral animals (likely goats) to allow existing rootstock and seeds in the soil to mature into a permanent forest cover. The methodology requires that the land has forest potential and has been suppressed for at least 10 years prior to the project start.

The region is characterized by a semi-arid climate with low, variable rainfall averaging around 350-400mm annually. The soils are typically red earths and lithosols, supporting vegetation communities such as Mulga (Acacia aneura) shrublands and Poplar Box (Bimble Box) woodlands. These hearty native species are well-adapted to the "red dirt" country of Western NSW and provide essential habitat when allowed to regenerate.

A notable aspect of this project is its proponent, Terra Carbon Pty Limited, which is a subsidiary of GreenCollar, a major Australian environmental markets developer. This project is part of a broader aggregation known as the "Darling River Conservation Initiative," which spans multiple properties in the catchment area. By grouping these sites, the initiative aims to create landscape-scale biodiversity corridors that stabilize soils and improve water quality flowing toward the Darling River system.