On the Sierra Yoyo Desan Road north of Fort Nelson, B.C., the trees show a leopard pattern, dark with yellow spots, on what's left of the bark. They've been scorched by fire, and the mottling is everywhere. In this northeastern part of the province, nearly touching the Northwest Territories, there are reliable cycles: a boom-and-bust lumber industry, now mostly bust. Forest products company Canfor left in 2008, taking hundreds of jobs with it. Oil and gas, also boom and bust.