Darling River Conservation Initiative Site 15

Darling River Conservation Initiative Site 15 is a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located approximately 55km west-southwest of Cobar in western New South Wales. It was registered in May 2023 and covers an expansive area of 27,900.82 hectares.

Human-Induced Regeneration projects involve regenerating native forest by changing land management practices on land where tree regrowth was previously suppressed. Standard requirements for HIR projects mandate that the regeneration must have the potential to reach a forest cover standard, which typically requires native trees to attain a minimum of 2 meters in height and a 20% canopy cover across the project area.

The Cobar Peneplain region is well known for extensive pastoral agriculture, predominantly grazing sheep for wool and meat, as well as beef cattle. The local environment features a semi-arid climate with highly variable rainfall averaging around 390mm to 400mm annually. The region's soils are typically loamy-clays and red earths (Chromosols), which are widespread across the plains and often feature scattered ironstone or quartz gravel.

This project was established to create permanent native forests through assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, including resilient rootstock and lignotubers. The project takes place on land that was previously cleared of vegetation and where regrowth was actively suppressed for at least 10 years prior to the project's commencement. To foster this regrowth, the project activities include closely managing the timing and extent of livestock grazing alongside the humane management of feral animals. Developed by Terra Carbon Pty Limited, this site is part of a much larger multi-site conservation aggregation spanning the Darling River basin.