Non industrial private forests (NIPFs), because of the induscutable importance of the inherent human element in this type of forest tenure, stands at the confluence of different conceptual universes. In this context, forest actors, regardless of their affiliation, aim to convey what they consider quality informations, opinions or knowledge in a way that facilitates the communication between forestry stakeholders. Among the communication tools used to reach Quebec’s NIPFs landowners, the field guide seems fairly popular. We conducted a qualitative analysis of Guide terrain – saines pratiques d’aménagement en forêt privée to discover how forestry professionals conceive the forest they present, describe and explain in this guide. Lakoff and Johnson’s metaphorical approach (1985) has shed light on the latent content of the text. A thematic analysis of the metaphors discovered, combined with a review of their mutual articulation, showed that the forest is conceptualized in a way that fosters human involvement.