Darling River Conservation Initiative - Site #6

Darling River Conservation Initiative - Site #6 is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located in the remote rangelands of Western New South Wales, approximately 55 kilometers southeast of the locality of Wanaaring and roughly 160 kilometers west of Bourke. Registered on April 24, 2019, the project encompasses a significant land holding of 51,225 hectares. The surrounding region is predominantly utilized for extensive grazing of sheep, cattle, and rangeland goats.

The project operates under the Human-Induced Regeneration methodology, which differs from tree planting projects. Instead of planting seedlings, landholders manage "suppressors", primarily livestock and feral animals, to allow existing native seed banks and rootstock to regenerate naturally. The standard requirement for this methodology is for the vegetation to attain "forest cover" status, defined as achieving a canopy cover of at least 20% at a height of 2 meters.

Environmentally, the site sits within a semi-arid to arid climate zone, characterized by hot summers, cool winters, and low, variable rainfall averaging roughly 250-300mm annually. The terrain typically consists of flat to undulating sandplains with soils dominated by red sandy loams, red earths, and areas of texture-contrast soils common to the Mulga Lands bioregion.

An interesting note regarding this project is its proponent, Terra Carbon Pty Limited, which is a subsidiary of the GreenCollar Group, Australia's largest environmental markets investor. This project is part of a broader aggregation of sites under the "Darling River Conservation Initiative," designed to create landscape-scale connectivity for biodiversity while generating carbon credits.