**3.1 The 'eviction' of fire from DNP and its come-back as a new risk situation**

Much modern environmental thinking stems from the balance-of-nature metaphor (Hovardas & Korfiatis, 2011). According to this metaphor, natural systems tend towards a point of relative stability. Systems in equilibrium resist change and when balance of nature is upset by human intervention, self-regulatory forces work to return the system to the state of equilibrium. Nature conservation in the form of establishing and operating protected areas has been based on the balance-of-nature metaphor and on the separation of the natural realm from the social realm by the demarcation of boundaries (Diamond, 1975). Although the balance-of-nature metaphor has been challenged by developments in the field of ecology (Hovardas & Korfiatis, 2011), it still continues to determine perceptions and policies related to nature conservation (Clapp, 2004; Nygren, 2000; Durand & Vázquez, 2011).

With the balance-of-nature metaphor acting as an organizing principle, the ecological discourse refers to a political project which wishes to establish a 'state of lost harmony' (Stavrakakis, 1999). The illusory character of the harmonious image of nature is revealed by manifestations of elements which cannot be accommodated by the balance-of-nature metaphor and assume a symptomatic form2 (Stavrakakis, 1999). In order for nature-inbalance to remain coherent, any evidence that is not compatible with this image and threatens to destabilize it has to be repressed and excluded from nature's symbolization. However, under this Lacanian frame, we have to accept that no repression can guarantee the disappearance of the undomesticated, excluded symptom, which should be expected to return to its place at an unsuspected time (Stavrakakis, 1999). It is in this way that fire is rendered a symptom exactly when it should be expected with certainty. A wildfire, which is a quite common phenomenon in forests all along the Mediterranean Basin, would have irreversible consequences for biodiversity conservation, ecotourism, and the local community in Dadia. Agee (1997) underlines that few managers plan for a devastating fire and they just hope that it will not occur on their watch. Yet, the event of an unexpected and unmanageable wildfire can never be excluded (Klenner et al., 2000).
