The Contested Restructuring Qua Remapping of British Columbia's Forest Economy: Reflections on the 'Crossroads' and 'war in the Woods' Metaphors/la Restructuration Contestee Et un Re-Dessin de L'economie Forestiere de la Columbia-Britannique: Une Reflexion Sur Les Metaphors Carrefours Et Guerre Dans Les Bois‪.‬

Abstract Metaphors are widely used to provoke and (re-)direct debate and are an important part of discourses on regional development in academic and popular literatures. Metaphors, however, do not speak for themselves and their interpretation deserves greater scrutiny. A case in point is provided by the BC forest economy that for over two decades has been characterized by 'crossroads' and 'war in the woods' metaphors. The former intimates a restructuring from a mass production, cost-minimizing commodity system to a more flexible, value maximizing and product-differentiated system while the latter captures clashes among newly emergent neo-liberal, environmental and aboriginal values and between these values and those in place for a remapping of forest rights and use. This paper comparatively reflects on the crossroads and war in the woods metaphors. In broad terms, the historical basis of the crossroads metaphor and the geographic basis of the war in the woods metaphor is identified while simultaneously emphasizing that the forces underlying the two metaphors are causally interconnected. The discussion helps explain the durability of the metaphors, or why crossing the crossroads to a more desirable forest economy that is based on peace in the woods has proven so difficult.