Optimal Timber Utilisation Strategies for Wik People on Cape York Peninsula

A forestry industry based on the native Darwin stringybark forests of Cape York Peninsula has been identified as a potential generator of employment and income for Wik people. Information appropriate for examining potential Wik timber utilisation strategies is scarce, necessitating primary data collection activities in north Queensland. A mixed-integer, single-period goal program is developed to produce a suite of ‘optimal’ timber utilisation strategies from the perspective of Wik people. Optimal forestry strategies predicted by the goal programming model are financially viable and suggest, in general, that relatively low-technology forestry activities are likely to best satisfy Wik forestry objectives.