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Railroad Land Grant
Corporations in the News
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Recent Sales Revive Hopes in Bay Area, By John McCloud, New York Times, Dec 29, 2004.
Groups call for probe at BNSF refueling depot: Friends of the Aquifer, Sierra Club chapter ask county to investigate leak, by Benjamin Shors, [Spokane WA] Spokesman Review, December 23, 2004.
Weyerhaeuser Acquires Sawmill in Brazil in New Joint Venture. Company news release, Oct 29, 2004.
Western Canada Wilderness group aims to make old growth trees a major election issue. By Lindsay Kines, Victoria Times Colonist, October 13, 2004..
The Western Canada Wilderness Committee plans to ramp up its fight to protect old growth trees in the Upper Walbran Valley in the run-up to next spring's provincial election.Court Rules Weyerhaeuser Has Ongoing Substantive Obligations to the Haida. EAGLE (Environmental-Aboriginal Guardianship through Law and Education) news release, Sept 29, 2004.
The Supreme Court of British Columbia released its decision yesterday in a case brought by the Haida seeking to enforce Weyerhaeuser's obligations to consult and accommodate the Haida.
In 2002, the CHN won its case against Weyerhaeuser and the B.C. Crown regarding the transfer and replacement of Tree Farm Licence 39 on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands). The Court of Appeal held that the Crown and Weyerhaeuser have duties to consult and accommodate the Haida with respect to their cultural and economic interests in the forests of Haida Gwaii. The Province and Weyerhaeuser appealed the decision, and a decision from the Supreme Court of Canada is expected soon.
Since the 2002 decision the Haida have attempted to reach accommodations with Weyerhaeuser and the Province. Also since the decision, the Province changed its forestry legislation to divest itself of the obligation to consult regarding transfers and replacements of Tree Farm Licences. The Haida went back to court when Weyerhaeuser declared no need to consult with the Haida regarding any potential transfer of that licence and refused to provide the Haida with information regarding monumental cedar within the licence area.
Yesterday, the Court ruled that despite the changes to the Forest Act, Weyerhaeuser cannot enter into a transfer agreement without first consulting the Haida (in other words, their duty is not tied to a Crown duty to consult in this instance). Weyerhaeuser's duty to consult requires disclosing to the Haida the identity of a proposed transferee and the terms of the proposed transfer. In effect, this means that the Province's amendments to forestry legislation over the last two years do not have the effect of legislating away the rights of the Haida or Weyerhaeuser's duties to consult and accommodate the Haida.
Guujaaw, President of the Haida Nation states that "The Province has downloaded this and many other responsibilities to the forest industry which should be a concern to everyone in this Province."
The court also confirmed that the Haida are entitled to all necessary information held by Weyerhaeuser, including inventory data. This should increase the ability of the Haida to ensure logging activities do not liquidate all old-growth cedar on Haida Gwaii. Says Guujaaw: "This is a victory for the forests of Haida Gwaii, which have already been heavily logged of old-growth forests, and a victory for the continuance of Haida Culture and the well being of the people who call this home."
For more information contact: Guujaaw, President of the Council of the Haida Nation at (604) 313-8250, or Cheryl Sharvit, Staff Lawyer, EAGLE at (604) 536-6261. This litigation is brought on behalf of the Council of the Haida Nation, by EAGLE, a not-for-profit charitable law organization dedicated to assisting Aboriginal Peoples with protecting the environment for future generations.
B.C. Government and Weyerhaeuser Agree on Tenure Reallocation. Company News Release, Sept 14, 2004.
Weyerhaeuser Company today announced that it has reached a tenure reallocation agreement with the Province of British Columbia. Under the terms of Bill 28 - Forestry Revitalization Act - the Province will reduce Weyerhaeuser's cutting rights by 1.2 million cubic meters of allowable annual cut and 8,000 hectares of timber licences. Weyerhaeuser will receive C$32.1 million in compensation for the loss of these rights.
In March 2003, the Provincial Government announced it would reallocate 20 per cent of issued Crown logging rights to make more wood available on the open market and for First Nations, community forests, woodlots, and new entrepreneurs...
Weyerhaeuser will retain an annual Crown land harvest of about 4.8 million cubic meters in British Columbia and will continue to operate on reallocated areas until they are transitioned to the Crown..."
Hunting allowed on Nature Conservancy lands in the Blackfoot. Nature Conservancy, Sept 11, 2004.
"The same access for hunting, personal wood-cutting and recreation on former Plum Creek timber lands in the Blackfoot watershed will be allowed under their new owner, The Nature Conservancy. This year, the Conservancy has purchased 42,927 acres of former Plum Creek timber lands in and around the Blackfoot Valley..."
Blackfoot conservation deal completed. By Sherry Devlin, The Missoulian, Sept 10, 2004.
Blackfoot Valley landowners working with The Nature Conservancy have completed a $32 million effort to preserve ranching, forestry, wildlife and public access on 42,927 acres.
Previously owned by Plum Creek Timber Co., the upper Blackfoot Valley land will now be resold - mostly to adjoining ranches, all with conservation agreements.
Wednesday's announcement covered the final 4,600 acres of a deal unveiled in February and achieved in three installments.
The latest purchase included three sections of land near Patterson Prairie outside Lincoln and 3,260 acres in the Nevada Creek drainage near Helmville.
As developed by the Blackfoot Challenge, a group of valley landowners, the plan calls for consolidation of the conservancy-purchased parcels with adjoining ranches in the Helmville area.
All of the affected landowners have expressed an interest in conservation agreements that keep the land in ranching, said The Nature Conservancy's Tana Kappel.
In addition, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks manages the nearby Nevada Lake Wildlife Management Area and would consider holding and managing conservation easements on the lands. The agreements would include walk-in public hunting access.
"We feel we can achieve our objectives of providing winter habitat for elk and mule deer, and public access for hunting and other compatible recreation, with private ownership," said Mike Thompson, a wildlife biologist for FWP.
"Basically," he said, "a conservation easement would maintain the traditional ranching operations, which have supported wildlife and hunting for many years."
In all, the project would preserve as ranch and timber land large patches of property between Clearwater Junction and Lincoln, in the upper Blackfoot Valley.
"We want to keep these lands intact for ranching and allow ranchers to expand their operations, while still maintaining the important wildlife habitat," said Jim Stone, chair of the Blackfoot Challenge and an Ovando-area rancher.
The Blackfoot Challenge initiated its "Blackfoot Community Project" in the fall of 2002 as a proactive response to the anticipated sale of some Plum Creek timberlands in the Blackfoot Valley.
The Nature Conservancy, in turn, agreed to assume the financial risk of obtaining loans and purchasing the land - which would then be resold to conservation-minded buyers.
"The local community continues to support this project because it will preserve this area's rural character and unique wildlands for future generations," Stone said.
With the first series of purchases complete, The Nature Conservancy would like to eventually broker another phase of the project - and potentially bring 89,000 acres into the Blackfoot Challenge's fold, Kappel said.
But all future work depends on financing, she said, so it's too uncertain to discuss in any detail.
In the meantime, The Nature Conservancy has 42,927 acres of land to manage.
For starters, Kappel said, the conservancy will provide the same access for hunting, personal wood-cutting and recreation allowed under Plum Creek ownership.
The lands involved are in the following areas: Marcum Mountain, Monture West, Ovando Mountain, Tupper Lake, Alice Creek, Bear Creek, in-holdings in the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area, some lands north and south of Lincoln, and Nevada Creek.Some of the areas are covered by block management rules, including Ovando Mountain, Sunny Slope, Marcum-Kershaw Mountains and Shanley Creek. All are posted with specific public use regulations.
In all cases, walk-in access for hunting, non-motorized recreation and personal-use firewood gathering of down and dead wood is allowed.
42,927-acre land transfer in Blackfoot Valley finalized. Helena Independent Record, Sep 9, 2004.
The final installment of a three-part, 42,927-acre land deal in the Blackfoot Valley is now complete, with the purchase by The Nature Conservancy of 4,600 acres of Plum Creek Timber lands for about $3.3 million.
The latest purchase includes portions of three sections of land near Patterson Prairie, near Lincoln, with the bulk of the purchase involving 3,260 acres of property in the Nevada Creek area, near Helmville. Most of this purchase will be resold, after conservation easements are placed on it, to private ranchers. The latest purchase includes portions of three sections of land near Patterson Prairie, near Lincoln, with the bulk of the purchase involving 3,260 acres of property in the Nevada Creek area, near Helmville. Most of this purchase will be resold, after conservation easements are placed on it, to private ranchers.
According to The Nature Conservancy, the plan is to consolidate the Conservancy-purchased parcels in Nevada Creek with adjoining ranches to sustain ranching and conservation in the area.
In addition, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, which owns the 740-acre Nevada Lake Wildlife Management Area, is considering holding and managing conservation easements on some of the lands in the Nevada Creek. FWP would work to include walk-in public hunting access as part of the conservation easements.
"We feel we can achieve our objectives of providing winter habitat for elk and mule deer, and public access for hunting and other compatible recreation with private ownership, said Mike Thompson, wildlife biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "Basically, a conservation easement would maintain the traditional ranching operations, which have supported wildlife and hunting for many years.
Because the land would be privately owned and managed, the landowners would pay taxes on the land and improvements.
The entire $32 million deal is part of a plan developed by the Blackfoot Challenge, which is a group of Helmville, Lincoln and other area residents who want to protect conservation and community values on the properties, with an eye on managing the land in a way that maintains the valley's tradition of ranching, forestry, wildlife and public access.
The nonprofit, Virginia-based Nature Conservancy will temporarily hold the title to the lands while the Blackfoot Challenge works out a community-based plan for the resale of the property to public and private entities.
"We want to keep these lands intact for ranching and allow the ranchers to expand their operations, while still maintaining the important wildlife habitat," said Jim Stone, chair of the Blackfoot Challenge and Ovando area rancher.
The Blackfoot Challenge initiated the Blackfoot Community Project in the fall of 2002 - beginning with community meetings from Helmville to Seeley Lake - as a proactive response to the anticipated sale of some Plum Creek timberlands in the Blackfoot watershed. As a result, the Conservancy agreed to assume the financial risk of obtaining loans and purchasing the land.
"The local community continues to support this very ambitious project because it will preserve this area's rural character and unique wild lands for future generations," Stone said.
The Blackfoot River Valley generally flows westward from Rogers Pass and the Scapegoat Wilderness Area near Lincoln toward Helmville and Ovando. It's home to black and grizzly bears, elk, deer, mountain lion and lynx as well as nearly 235 bird species and native cutthroat and bull trout.
Unlike many urbanized areas of Montana, the 1.5-million-acre river valley is home to only about eight communities and 2,500 families.
In February, The Nature Conservancy purchased 18,443 acres from Plum Creek Timber for $13.8 million. Three months later, the conservation group bought another 19,883 acres for $14.9 million, for a total cost of about $32 million for the three parcels, or an average of about $750 an acre.
Blackfoot Community Project secures third installment of timber land. Nature Conservancy, Sept 8, 2004.
The Nature Conservancy, acting on behalf of the Blackfoot Challenge, last week purchased 4,600 acres of Plum Creek lands in the Blackfoot Valley, most of which will be re-sold with conservation agreements to private ranchers.
This purchase marks the final installment of the purchase agreement announced last fall with Plum Creek timber company. The Conservancy will temporarily hold the lands it purchased this year - around 42,927 acres - and re-sell them according to a community-driven plan developed by the Blackfoot Challenge, a collaborative group of local landowners.
The latest purchase includes portions of three sections of land near Patterson Prairie near Lincoln, with the bulk of the purchase - 3,260 acres - in the Nevada Creek area near Helmville.
The Blackfoot Challenge plan, developed with input from Helmville area residents, is for the Nevada Creek lands to go into private ownership. The idea is to consolidate the Conservancy-purchased parcels with adjoining ranches to sustain ranching and conservation in the area.
Landowners who have expressed an interest in purchasing these parcels are also interested in conservation agreements and keeping the land in ranching. Also, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, which owns the 740-acre Nevada Lake Wildlife Management Area, would consider holding and managing conservation easements on the lands. FWP would work to include walk-in public hunting access as part of the conservation easements.
"We feel we can achieve our objectives of providing winter habitat for elk and mule deer, and public access for hunting and other compatible recreation with private ownership. Basically, a conservation easement would maintain the traditional ranching operations, which have supported wildlife and hunting for many years," says Mike Thompson, wildlife biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
"We want to keep these lands intact for ranching and allow the ranchers to expand their operations, while still maintaining the important wildlife habitat," says Jim Stone, chair of the Blackfoot Challenge and Ovando area rancher.
Because the land would be privately owned and managed, the landowners would pay taxes on the land and improvements.
The plan for the lands near Patterson Prairie is to re-sell them to adjacent public and private landowners.
The Blackfoot Challenge initiated the Blackfoot Community Project in the fall of 2002-beginning with community meetings from Helmville to Seeley Lake - as a proactive response to the anticipated sale of some Plum Creek timberlands in the Blackfoot watershed. As a result the Conservancy agreed to assume the financial risk of obtaining loans and purchasing the land.
"The local community continues to support this very ambitious project because it will preserve this area's rural character and unique wild lands for future generations," says Jim Stone.
The Blackfoot Challenge, comprised of local landowners, federal and state land managers, local government officials and corporate landowners, has been working in the Blackfoot Valley for 10 years to coordinate conservation efforts in the watershed.
The Nature Conservancy is a nonprofit conservation organization that conserves critical habitats for plants, animals and natural communities. Since 1979, the Conservancy's Montana chapter, based in Helena and with six community-based programs around the state, has worked with landowners to conserve over 481,360 acres of land in Montana.
Weyerhaeuser Closes Sale of 270,000 Acres in Georgia. PR Newswire, Sept 2, 2004.
Weyerhaeuser Company closed the sale of approximately 270,000 acres of timberlands in Georgia to four companies, officials announced today. The sale includes all Weyerhaeuser's owned commercial timberlands in Georgia. Weyerhaeuser will continue to manage a long-term timberland lease covering approximately 34,000 acres.
Terms of the individual agreements were not disclosed, but Weyerhaeuser said the sales totaled approximately $400 million. The company will use proceeds from the sales primarily for debt repayment.
The company now owns or manages approximately 6.5 million acres of timberland in the United States. Weyerhaeuser, one of the world's largest owners of merchantable softwood timber, added 1.7 million acres to its portfolio with the Willamette acquisition in 2002.
The purchasers of the timberland are Virginia Forest Investment LLC from Hogansville and Macon, Georgia; Georgia Fall Line Properties LLC from Greensboro, Georgia; Oaky Woods Properties LLC from Perry, Georgia; and Copper Station Holdings #3 from Beaufort, South Carolina. Weyerhaeuser will continue operating its nine facilities in Georgia.
Plum Creek Parcel Split At Auction, by Eijiro Kawada, [Tacoma WA] News Tribune, Aug 23, 2004.
Boise Cascade selling timber and paper assets, By Samantha Zee and James Gunsalus, Bloomberg News, Seattle Times, July 27, 2004.
Boise Cascade to sell Louisiana timberlands, By Ned Randolph, Baton Rouge Advocate, July 26, 2004.
After selling 78,000 acres of Louisiana timberland in a cost-cutting measure in April, Boise Cascade Corp. unveiled plans Monday to shed all of its remaining 2 million acres of timberland assets, and paper and forest products, which would affect 610,000 acres of Louisiana timberland and three mills.
The announced sale to private investment group, Madison Dearborn Partners LLC of Chicago, would raise $3.2 billion in cash for the Idaho-based company. The deal should be completed by November, Boise Cascade announced in a press release.
It was not known Monday morning what plans Madison Dearborn Partners had for the Louisiana parcels of land or mills in Florien, DeRidder and Oakdale. Calls to both companies had not been returned.
Pending the sale, Boise Cascade will change its name to OfficeMax, the office products retailer it bought a year ago for $1.2 billion in cash and stock.
The spin-off and name change marks the completion of the review of the company's future launched with the OfficeMax purchase, Boise Cascade chairman George Harad said Monday.
"The transaction we are announcing today will complete Boise's transformation, begun in the mid-1990s, from a predominantly manufacturing-based company to a world-scale distribution company," Harad said in the release. "... In the process, we will realize significant value for shareholders," he said.
Boise said it would realize about $3.1 billion to $3.2 billion in cash proceeds from the deal, after a $175 million reinvestment in Boise Cascade LLC and spending between $250 million to $300 million to reduce debt in the new OfficeMax.
Boise Cascade owns seven Office Solutions superstores in Louisiana, which will be renamed OfficeMax.
Boise Cascade stock spiked 6 percent before simmering down to a modest increase of under 2 percent or $33.51 a share, during morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Boise Announces Sale of Paper, Building Products, and Timberland Assets. Company news release, July 26, 2004.
"Boise Cascade Corporation announced today that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell its paper, forest products, and timberland assets for approximately $3.7 billion to affiliates of Boise Cascade, L.L.C., a new company formed by Madison Dearborn Partners LLC (MDP), a leading private equity investment firm located in Chicago, Illinois...
Following the transaction, Boise Cascade Corporation will change its company and trade name to OfficeMax, Inc. It will continue to operate its office products distribution business, which had annualized first half 2004 sales of $8.6 billion, as its principal business. Through debt retirement and repurchases, OfficeMax is expected to reduce its outstanding debt to between $250 million to $300 million and be well positioned for continued growth. It will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OMX, and its corporate headquarters will be in Itasca, Illinois.
When the transaction is completed, George J. Harad, currently chairman and chief executive officer of Boise Cascade Corporation, will become executive chairman of the board of OfficeMax, Inc. Chris Milliken, currently division president and chief executive officer for Boise Office Solutions, will be elected president and chief executive officer of OfficeMax, Inc.
Boise will realize approximately $3.1 billion to $3.2 billion in cash proceeds after allowing for its $175 million reinvestment in Boise Cascade, L.L.C., and its affiliates, a retained interest in a timberland installment note, and certain transaction-related settlements. Boise currently expects to use approximately $2.2 billion to $2.3 billion of the net proceeds to pay down debt and other obligations and return the remaining $800 million to $1.0 billion of proceeds to shareholders through common and/or preferred stock buybacks, cash dividends, or a combination.
The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-November 2004. The acquiring company, Boise Cascade, L.L.C., will be privately held and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Its chief executive officer will be W. Thomas Stephens, former president and chief executive officer of MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. and former chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Manville Corporation.
"In many respects, this transaction represents a return to Boise Cascade's traditional roots as a leader in the paper and forest products industry," said Mr. Stephens. "We will continue to operate under the Boise brand name, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, with a focus on operational excellence and delivering value to our customers."
Madison Dearborn Partners is one of the largest and most experienced private equity firms in the United States. MDP has approximately $8 billion of equity capital under management and makes new investments through its most recent fund, Madison Dearborn Capital Partners IV, L.P., a $4 billion investment fund raised in 2001.
MDP focuses on management buyout transitions and other private equity investments across a broad spectrum of industries including basic industries, communications, consumer, financial services, and healthcare. Over the last decade, MDP has been one of the most active global investors in the paper, packaging, and forest products sectors, having consummated approximately $11.7 billion of management buyout transactions over that period, including Buckeye Technologies Inc., Graphic Packaging International Corp. (formerly Riverwood International Corp.), Packaging Corporation of America, and Jefferson Smurfit Group, PLC...
Included in the sale are the Boise Cascade Corporation headquarters building in Boise, Idaho, and substantially all of the assets of:
Boise Building Solutions, a major producer of plywood, lumber, particleboard, and engineered wood products (laminated veneer lumber, wood I-joists, and laminated beams). Most of Boise's production is sold to independent wholesalers and dealers and through its own wholesale building materials distribution outlets. Boise manufactures wood products at 22 facilities in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. Boise's 27 wholesale building materials distribution facilities in the United States sell a wide range of building materials to retail lumber dealers, home centers specializing in the do-it-yourself market, and industrial customers. Boise Building Solutions' first half 2004 sales totaled $1.9 billion.
Boise Paper Solutions, a manufacturer of uncoated free sheet papers -- office papers, printing papers, forms bond, envelope papers, and value-added papers. Boise's value-added papers include security papers, specialty base stocks, financial printing papers, recycled papers, and laser and inkjet papers. Boise also produces containerboard and corrugated containers, newsprint, and market pulp. The division operates five pulp and paper mills, two paper converting facilities, six paper distribution centers, and five corrugated container plants in the United States. Boise Paper Solutions recorded first half 2004 sales of $1.0 billion.
Timberlands. Boise owns or controls approximately 2.3 million acres of timberland in the United States, 35,000 acres of eucalyptus plantation land in Brazil, and a 16,000-acre cottonwood fiber farm near Wallula, Washington..."
Boise Cascade selling timber assets for $3.2B. AP/USAToday.com, July 26, 2004
. "Boise Cascade plans to sell its paper, forest products and timber assets to a private investment group for about $3.2 billion in cash. The company said Monday that the sale to a new company formed by Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, a Chicago investment firm, should be completed by November. Boise Cascade will change its name to OfficeMax, taking the name of the office products distributor it bought a year ago for $1.2 billion in cash and stock. The spinoff and name change marks the completion of a review of the company's future launched with the OfficeMax purchase, Boise Cascade chairman George Harad said Monday. "The transaction we are announcing today will complete Boise's transformation, begun in the mid-1990s, from a predominantly manufacturing-based company to a world-scale distribution company," Harad said. "... In the process, we will realize significant value for shareholders." Boise said it will realize about $3.1 billion to $3.2 billion in cash from the deal, after a $175 million reinvestment in Boise Cascade LLC and spending between $250 million to $300 million to reduce debt in the new OfficeMax.Weyerhaeuser pays $900K in Johnsonburg, Pa., paper mill pollution case. US EPA news release, July 22, 200
4. "Weyerhaeuser Company has settled alleged violations of federal and state air pollution control laws at its pulp and paper plant in northwestern Pennsylvania, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice announced today. In legal papers filed in federal court in Pittsburgh, the Washington state-based Weyerheauser Company has agreed to pay a $900,000 penalty and improve air pollution controls at its kraft pulp and paper mill in Johnsonburg, Elk County, Pa. This enforcement action began in April 1999, when EPA issued a Clean Air Act violation notice to former plant owner Willamette Industries, Inc. Weyerhaeuser acquired this plant in June 2002 after the company's merger with Williamette... The federal and state complaints, filed together with a proposed consent decree, alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act and the Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act. Specifically, the U.S. and Pennsylvania alleged that Weyerhaeuser modified and operated two coal-fired power boilers without required upgrades to air pollution control equipment. The complaints also alleged that Weyerheauser failed to obtain required state-issued permits limiting sulfur dioxide emissions, and violated Clean Air Act standards applicable to fossil-fuel-fired steam generating units. As part of the settlement, Weyerhaeuser did not admit liability for the alleged violations. In the proposed consent decree, which is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval, Weyerhaeuser has agreed to pay a $900,000 penalty ($675,000 to the U.S. and $225,000 to Pennsylvania). In October 2003, the company completed installation of state-of-the-art sulfur dioxide (SO2) scrubbers on the plant's power boilers, at a cost of about $5.5 million. The consent decree requires Weyerhaeuser to operate these scrubbers in accordance with standards designed to reduce SO2 air emissions by up to 95 percent. Sulfur dioxide contributes to acid rain which destroys lakes, rivers, streams, and crops, and may aggravate existing respiratory diseases such as asthma and emphysema. In addition, sulfur compounds in the air contribute to impaired visibility July 22, 2004 in large parts of the country."Weyerhaeuser Agrees to Sell Forest Land in Georgia for $404 Million. Associated Press, ABCNews.com, June 30, 2004
. "Weyerhaeuser Co. announced an agreement Wednesday to sell about 304,000 acres of timber land in Georgia to four companies for a total of $404 million, the largest in a series of recent sales to reduce debt. Details of individual sales are being withheld until the deals close, probably in the third quarter of the year, according to a news release from Weyerhaeuser headquarters in this suburb between Seattle and Tacoma. The buyers are Virginia Forest Investment LLC of Hogansville and Macon, Ga.; Georgia Fall Line Properties LLC of Greensboro, Ga.; Southern Timber Consultants LLC of Perry, Ga., and Copper Station Holdings No. 3 of Beaufort, S.C. The land includes 270,000 acres owned by Weyerhaeuser and the company's interest in a long-term lease covering about 34,000 acres. The statement said Weyerhaeuser would retain nine other operations in Georgia. The company, which gained 1.7 million acres of U.S. timber land with the $8 billion acquisition of Willamette Industries in 2002, will own or manage about 6.5 million acres nationwide after the deals are completed. As of last fall Weyerhaeuser's debt load was about $12.7 billion. To reduce that figure, the company previously sold 346,000 acres of land that was acquired in the Willamette merger in Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina; more than 250,000 acres of forest in Washington state and Oregon, and a mill at Slave Lake, Alberta."Timber giant hopes for negotiated settlement to softwood dispute, By Matthew Daly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 12, 2004.
"Most U.S. timber companies were disappointed this month when the Commerce Department recommended that steep tariffs on imports of Canadian softwood lumber be cut in half. Lower tariffs would mean more imports and lower prices for U.S. products - an outcome U.S. companies have tried to avoid as they battle what they call a subsidized Canadian wood-products industry. But at least one American company welcomed the decision. Washington-state based Weyerhaeuser called the proposed tariff reduction "good news" and a sign that a resolution to the long-standing dispute over softwood lumber - easy-to-saw wood used in home-building - may finally be in sight. The company's atypical reaction stems from its unusual perspective on the cross-border dispute. While Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest U.S. producers of softwood lumber from pine, spruce and other trees, it also is a major producer of Canadian lumber: About one-third of its annual production comes from north of the border. Weyerhaeuser operates on nearly 35 million acres in five Canadian provinces, producing about 2.4 billion board feet of lumber a year...
IWA, Steelworkers reach tenative merger, Kamloops This Week, June 2004.
"Unionized Weyer haeuser employees in Kamloops could soon belong to Canada's largest private-sector union. Last week, members of the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada (IWA) reached a tentative merger agreement with the United Steelworkers of America. The merger would join IWA's 55,000 members with 190,000 Canadian steelworkers creating the largest private-sector union in the country. Members of IWA Local 1-417, the local which represents Weyerhaeuser in Kamloops as well as Aspen Planers in Merritt, Ainsworth Lumber in Savona and Tolko Industries in Merritt and Heffley Creek, will vote on whether or not to accept the proposed merger. Al Bowerman, financial secretary with Local 1-417, said the local was going through the proposed merger document and would bring the vote to membership sometime in July or August."
Weyerhaeuser loses in Portland. Portland Business Journal, May 24, 2004.
"Weyerhaeuser Co. lost an antitrust case in Portland last week as a jury awarded damages of $5.3 million to smaller competitor Washington Alder, which claimed the Federal Way, Wash., company monopolized the alder market in the Northwest. The damages will triple to $15.8 million before taxes. Weyerhaeuser (NYSE: WY) said it will appeal the verdict. But the company also said it will take an after-tax charge of about $10.5 million, or 4 cents per share, in the second quarter. The jury determined Weyerhaeuser monopolized the alder market from June 1999 to December 2001. The jury found in Weyerhaeuser's favor regarding monopolization of the alder market after December 2001. Last month, Weyerhaeuser settled an antitrust suit filed by Coast Mountain Hardwoods in U.S. District Court in Portland for $14 million. "We believe that the monopolization issues will ultimately be decided in favor of Weyerhaeuser and that this verdict and the earlier one will be reversed on appeal," said Robert Dowdy, Weyerhaeuser senior vice president and general counsel, in a statement."
Jury awards nearly $5.3 million against Weyerhaeuser. Associated Press, May 21, 2004. Portland, Ore.
Blackfoot group secures second land buy. By Sherry Devlin, Missoulian, May 19, 2004.
"Intent on preserving their ranching heritage and wide open spaces, Blackfoot Valley landowners bought another 19,883 acres of commercial timberland Tuesday. Brokered by The Nature Conservancy and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the $14.9 million purchase included irreplaceable deer and elk winter range and heavily timbered grizzly bear habitat. Tuesday's was the second of three purchases planned this year by the Blackfoot Challenge and designed to protect 42,927 acres of Plum Creek Timber Co. land from subdivision and development. Eventually, the landowner group hopes to buy all of Plum Creek's mid-elevation timberland between Clearwater Junction and Rogers Pass, north and south of Highway 200 - more than 80,000 acres. "This is the heritage of the Blackfoot Valley," said Jim Stone, an Ovando rancher and chairman of the Blackfoot Challenge. "People want to see these lands managed in a way that maintains the valley's tradition of ranching, forestry, wildlife and public access." While their goals are simple, the details of the ranchers' plan is complex. Acting on behalf of the valley, The Nature Conservancy actually bought the land from Plum Creek and will hold it while residents agree on a resell plan. Some of the property will go to state and federal land management agencies, assuring public access, habitat protection and some continued timber cutting. Other parcels will be sold to ranchers with adjoining land - as long as the buyers agree to keep the land largely undeveloped. Always, Stone said, buyers must agree to manage the land "in a way that supports the community's rural and conservation values." Tuesday's deal includes 3,835 acres that will eventually go to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks - and will consolidate ownership of the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area. The Nature Conservancy will first sell the acreage to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which will hold it until FWP receives $3.3 million earmarked for the project in the federal government's 2005 budget. "Lots of people have worked a long time to see this day," said Mike Thompson, a wildlife biologist for Montana FWP. "It's a great day for the wildlife of Montana." More than 1,000 elk spend winters on the Blackfoot-Clearwater game range, Montana's largest state-owned property dedicated for use as wildlife habitat. Thompson said FWP hopes to have the money needed to buy the land from the Elk Foundation by fall. Also included in the new purchase are 7,659 acres of grizzly bear habitat along the Continental Divide in the Alice Creek drainage. Grizzlies and elk pass through the drainage as they travel south out of the Scapegoat and Bob Marshall wilderness areas. Were Alice Creek developed, the animals would be isolated in the wilderness. Jamie Williams, state director of The Nature Conservancy, said the next round of purchases will include about 4,600 acres in the Marcum Mountain and Nevada Creek areas, and is expected to be complete in mid-August. Meanwhile, the Blackfoot Challenge will work on the disposition of lands purchased in January and, now, on Tuesday. Stone said one of the highest priorities is protection of Ovando Mountain, a landmark in the center of the Blackfoot Valley. Already, he said, residents have said they want it set aside as a "community-managed conservation area." The first round of purchases last winter included 9,629 acres on the lower slopes of Ovando Mountain. "This project has been inspired by some amazing community leaders who have a long history of conservation in the valley," said Williams. "We're honored to support them." Added Stone, "This project is an amazing undertaking for us and our partners, one that is consuming thousands of hours in planning and community meetings. We're pleased at the high level of community involvement." Cooperation and neighborliness are also part of the valley's heritage, Stone said, so the Blackfoot Challenge has a strong foundation on which to build. "Instead of focusing on our own ranch or our own family, we thought it was important to look toward the future as a community and try to create something long-lasting here," he said. "It looks like we may just succeed."
Last Piece of Game Range Puzzle Saved. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation news release, May 18, 2004.
"The last large parcel of private land within the Blackfoot Clearwater Wildlife Management Area (WMA) took a giant step toward public ownership today. Working with the Blackfoot Challenge, a landowner-based watershed organization, The Nature Conservancy of Montana and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation completed the purchase of 3,835 acres of land previously owned by the Plum Creek Timber Company for $3.3 million. The land will be offered to FWP for the same price. "Lots of people have worked for a long time to see this day," said Mike Thompson, wildlife biologist with the FWP. "This is a great opportunity for wildlife in Montana." The WMA is Montana's largest state-owned property dedicated to wildlife habitat, and it represents one of Montana's first efforts to match big game habitat preservation to the critical winter ranges of elk, deer and other wildlife. The state established the WMA in 1948 with the purchase of the 10,936-acre Boyd Ranch. The WMA now includes 67,000 acres. Today's acquisition represents the final step in securing the future of this long-term investment by the state and people of Montana "The Elk Foundation is pleased to be a part of this effort spearheaded by the Blackfoot Challenge and The Nature Conservancy and supported by Montana's congressional delegation. Senator Conrad Burns, chair of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee is helping the Blackfoot Challenge secure funding for portions of the project. This project demonstrates the power of partnerships and establishes a positive vision for the future," said Peter J. Dart, Elk Foundation president and CEO "This transaction is an important contribution to maintaining the rural character and natural resources of the Blackfoot Valley," said Jim Stone, a rancher from Ovando and chair of the Blackfoot Challenge. This final purchase on behalf of the WMA is a spin-off of the much larger effort by The Nature Conservancy in which TNC is acquiring 42,000 acres of Plum Creek lands in the valley this year. After closing today on 19,833 acres in the second round of Plum Creek land purchases, the Conservancy immediately resold the 3,835 acres of WMA inholdings to RMEF, which will hold the land until Montana FWP receives funding and approval to purchase them. As of today, the Conservancy has acquired 38,300 acres of Plum Creek lands in the valley, and will hold them temporarily until the Blackfoot Challenge and local communities finalize plans for their eventual resale. This is the third acquisition in which the Elk Foundation participated on behalf of the WMA. In 1999, RMEF assisted in the acquisition of a key 333-acre parcel for $422,000. In 2000, RMEF assisted the state in the purchase of another 523 acres for $677,000. By the time RMEF gifted these lands to the State of Montana, its contribution to conservation in the WMA exceeded $800,000. Over 1,000 elk currently winter every year on this crucial winter range. It also provides winter range for elk coming out of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. In 2004, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. Founded and headquartered in Montana, the organization has grown and evolved into an international conservation leader. Powered by volunteers, members, supporters and partners, the Elk Foundation has completed more than 3,800 conservation and education projects, impacting nearly 4 million acres of habitat for elk and other wildlife."
Weyerhaeuser sued for $100M. Portland Business Journal, May 7, 2004.
Elementary Students Ask Logging Giant To Stop Destroying Old Growth Forests. Seattle-area Labor Unions Pass Resolutions Supporting "Weyerhaeuser 9." Rainforeast Action Network News Release, April 30, 2004.
"At twelve noon today, local Seattle high school students will hand deliver 2000 letters addressed to Weyerhaeuser CEO Steve Rogel asking him to stop destroying old-growth forests around the world. The letters, written by elementary school students from 23 states and four countries, are part of "Wake Up Weyerhaeuser," an international grassroots campaign to transform the barbaric environmental practices of Washington-based logging giant Weyerhaeuser, the number one destroyer of old-growth forests in North America. The student letter-drive follows the passage of resolutions by Seattle-area labor unions demanding that King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng drop the felony charges against the "Weyerhaeuser 9." King County Labor Council, Washington State Jobs with Justice, Pierce County Central Labor Council, Carpenters Local 131 and SPEEA, the Boeing Engineers Union, passed the resolution. Sample copies of student letters and text of labor union resolutions are available upon request. Earth's forests are in a state of crisis and Americans prefer environmental protection: 80 percent of the world's intact old-growth forests have been destroyed or degraded, much within recent decades (World Resources Institute). Only 4 percent of U.S. old-growth forests remain intact (Native Forests Council). At least 37.5 million acres of forest are destroyed annually (United Nations). 70 percent of Americans say they prefer to purchase from companies with environmentally ethical practices (American Demographics). 9 in 10 Americans favor wilderness protection (Los Angeles Times)."
Weyerhaeuser Settles Another Alder Suit. Portland business Journal, April 22, 2004.
Weyerhaeuser shareholders favor annual board election. By Bill Virgin, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 14, 2004.
"A majority of Weyerhaeuser Co. shareholders have endorsed annual election of all the company's directors, but not enough voted for the idea to put it into effect at the forest products company. At an annual meeting marked more by discussions of environmental and corporate-governance issues than the company's financial prospects, shareholders also endorsed, in an advisory vote, the expensing of options on the income statement, something the company says it will do once uniform accounting rules are adopted. While the company found itself the target of vocal and sometimes contentious criticism, both inside and outside the meeting, on its environmental practices, shareholders as a whole were much less receptive to two shareholder proposals on the subject.... Two environmental proposals fared even worse. A proposal calling for more detailed reporting on greenhouse gas reduction, state and federal environmental fines and forest sustainability certification received just 6 percent of the shares voted, while a proposal seeking a ban on harvests from old-growth and endangered forests received just 4 percent. The old-growth/endangered-forest issue was a significant presence at yesterday's meeting, which featured a heightened presence of police officers around Weyerhaeuser's headquarters campus. The Rainforest Action Network took out full-page newspaper ads and held a demonstration near Weyerhaeuser's headquarters building yesterday... Rogel and Weyerhaeuser were blasted during the question-and-answer session, which featured not a single query about the company's financial performance. Instead the questions focused on Weyerhaeuser's environmental record... Asked after the meeting if the strong feelings on such issues precluded any resolution, Rogel said he doesn't think so. Other forest debates such as the one involving the spotted owl have been emotional and "we've always been able to reach consensus," he said. "Some groups either don't understand or don't accept that to reach a consensus takes time, takes negotiation, takes science."..."
Company must give workers back pay. By Jake Bleed, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 9, 2004
.Weyerhaeuser Still Selling Assets. By Eric Engleman, Puget Sound Business Journal, March 12, 2004
.Weyerhaeuser Settles Suit Over Alder. By Allison Linn, Associated Press, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 10, 2004
.Plum Creek Earns National Recognition for Conservation Leadership. Company news release, Business Wire, March 8, 2004
"The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) recently honored Plum Creek (NYSE:PCL) with its 2003 Business Conservation Leadership Award. Charles Holmes, chairman of NACD's Forest Resources Committee, presented the award at the organization's 58th Annual Meeting in February. "Plum Creek is recognized as a national leader in the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® program and demonstrates its environmental commitment on its own property," said Charles Holmes, chairman of NACD's Forest Resources Committee. "It was one of the first companies to voluntarily identify unique sites on its properties that are protected for their biological, historical and physical treasures. The company maintains a strong working relationship with the conservation districts in counties where it owns land." "Plum Creek is pleased to receive this recognition for our conservation efforts," said Rick Holley, president and chief executive officer. "We're proud of the relationship that we've established with the NACD and pleased to have Plum Creek employees serving on its Forest Resources Committee and district boards." Each year, NACD recognizes a business that has planned and carried out impressive land, water and related resource management practices on its property in cooperation with a local conservation district, or has provided financial, personal or other assistance to a district, state or national conservation program..."
Weyerhaeuser Selling Three Mills in Southeast: Two Were Acquired in Willamette Industries Purchase. Bend.com, March 5, 2004.
"Weyerhaeuser Company announced Thursday that it intends to sell three wood products mills: -- A plywood and lumber complex in Chester, S.C., with the capacity to produce 240 million square feet of plywood and 45 million board feet of lumber a year. The complex employs 330 people. -- A hardwood plywood mill in Moncure, N.C., with the capacity to produce115 million square feet of hardwood plywood for use primarily in the production of furniture. The plant employs 200 people. -- A lumber mill in Barnesville, Ga., with the capacity to produce 140 million board feet of lumber. The facility employs 80 people. The company will continue to operate the mills as prospective buyers are sought. "These are good mills," said William R. Corbin, executive vice president, Wood Products. "However, they do not match Weyerhaeuser's business strategies, and we believe they will have a better strategic value to a new owner." The intention to sell the mills does not reflect on the efforts of their employees, Corbin said. "The employees at these three facilities have a strong commitment to safely making these mills run well and meeting customer needs," Corbin said. "Their excellence and records of workplace safety will help demonstrate the mills' viability to prospective new owners." Weyerhaeuser acquired the Carolina mills when it purchased Willamette Industries in 2001. Barnesville was acquired from Procter & Gamble Co. in 1992. Weyerhaeuser employs 5,000 people in the Carolinas, where it manages 552,000 acres of forestland and more than 15 operations. In Georgia, the company employs 1,700 in nine facilities and owns 320,000 acres of timberlands."Plum Creek to Sell Coalbed Methane Working Interest, Reports Progress on Sale of Non-Strategic Timberlands. Company news release, Business Wire, March 1, 2004
.Weyerhaeuser Plans To Sell 2 Mills In Saskatchewan. Dow Jones, Feb 26, 2004.
Weyerhaeuser To Sell Two Saskatchewan Mills. Reuters, Feb 26, 2004.
Weyerhaeuser Announces Intent to Sell Carrot River Lumber, Hudson Bay Plywood Mills. PR Newswire, Feb 26, 2004.
Weyerhaeuser to Sell 300,000 Acres of Forest in Georgia. Associated Press, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Feb 20, 2004.
"Weyerhaeuser plans to sell about 300,000 acres of forest in Georgia, the latest in a series of sales to reduce debt since the acquisition of Willamette Industries, the company announced Friday. Weyerhaeuser owns or manages about 7.5 million acres of commercial forest lands in the United States and Canada, including 1.7 million acres that was added in the $8 billion Willamette takeover in 2001, said Jack P. Taylor Jr., a senior vice president. "After careful review, we are looking for an opportunity to balance our portfolio by exploring the sale of our Georgia timber lands," Taylor said in a news release. The 17 workers affected by the sale will be given an opportunity to seek jobs in other Weyerhaeuser operations, and those that are released will be given severance pay and assistance in finding other work, according to the release. The Georgia sale plan follows decisions to sell 346,000 acres of timber land that was acquired in the Willamette merger in Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. The company also sold more than 250,000 acres of forest in Washington state and Oregon. Last month Weyerhaeuser also agreed to sell an oriented strand board mill at Slave Lake, Alberta, for $43 million. The company's debt load as of last fall was about $12.7 billion."
Old-growth Activists Target Weyerhaeuser; 5 Arrested, By Craig Welch and J. Patrick Coolican, Seattle Times, Feb 20, 2004.
"Forest activists who helped persuade building giants Home Depot and Lowe's to stop buying products made of wood from some old-growth forests have set their sights on a new target in Seattle's back yard: Weyerhaeuser. Citing a breakdown in talks with the Federal Way timber giant over its forest practices - primarily in Canada - a group of environmental activists climbed a construction crane in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood for five hours yesterday, hanging a 50-by-50-foot banner that read: "Wake up Weyerhaeuser, Protect Forests Now." The Rainforest Action Network, based in San Francisco, and the Forest Action Network, based in Canada, claimed responsibility for the spectacle, which led to the arrests of the five women on suspicion of reckless endangerment and criminal trespass, both misdemeanors, police said. The environmental groups have been in talks with Weyerhaeuser since September, trying to persuade the company to stop cutting down trees in parts of Canada that never have been logged. The move is the first in a campaign that, based on earlier crusades, could include boycotts of Weyerhaeuser customers. "They haven't moved off the dime - they're talking to us as if it were still the mid-1980s and they didn't have to respond, but the reality is the market has changed," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Rainforest group. "In the public consciousness, old-growth forests are now as fundamental as baseball, apple pie and Derek Jeter. Areas that have escaped industrial logging to date should remain off-limits." But Weyerhaeuser officials, who were caught off-guard by the display, said they've been working with environmental groups across Canada to set aside sensitive lands there. They said negotiating operational changes takes time. Company officials also said they're proud of their environmental track record. "We were surprised today by their aggressive actions in light of our recent discussions," said Weyerhaeuser spokesman Frank Mendizabal. "We're not going to be intimidated by groups making erroneous claims about our practices. Actions like today do not help in establishing trust." Weyerhaeuser holds logging rights on lands in Canada nearly the size of New York. Worldwide, it has operations in 18 countries, and buys and sells many wood products from trees it doesn't cut down itself. Greg Higgs, of the Forest Action Network, said Weyerhaeuser is logging vast tracts of old-growth forest every year, much of it in Canada. "We all have a vested interest in the world's forests," Higgs said. The Rainforest Action Network is behind a wave of environmental activism that combines civil disobedience and protest with aggressive free-market campaigns to try to force changes in the forest-products industry. They hang banners and disrupt business, while conducting behind-the-scenes negotiations, urging companies - including financiers such as Citigroup - to only do business with companies that follow guidelines for environmentally friendly forest practices. Four years ago, after the group took its issues to building-supply companies Home Depot and Lowe's, the companies agreed to phase out purchase of products from "endangered" forests such as British Columbia's so-called Great Bear Rainforest and give preference to wood certified as sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council - an independent auditing organization favored by environmentalists. Company officials from Lowe's, for example, visited the Northwest and Canada to get a firsthand look at forest practices. Last fall, Boise Cascade became the first large U.S. timber company to accede to some of the Rainforest Action Network's requests, agreeing to work to protect forests in Chile, Indonesia and elsewhere, and no longer log old-growth timber on public lands in the United States. Yesterday, in a letter to Weyerhaeuser's chief executive officer, Brune applauded the company's work to help protect 2.4 million acres in the Great Bear Rainforest, along the north and central coast of British Columbia. He expressed regret that the company still logs in otherwise untouched areas of Canada and imports products from around the world from areas it considers "endangered." It called for a complete and immediate moratorium on logging in so-called first-growth forests, forestland that has never been commercially logged. Mendizabal, however, said Brune's group was misinterpreting the company's record, and said no such moratorium would take place. Weyerhaeuser has worked with environmentalists and the B.C. government on agreements to make wildlife habitat and acres of old-growth off-limits to logging, while continuing to log first-growth trees. Its forestry practices are certified under an independent auditing system favored by the timber industry, but the company is working to build international certification standards. The company also said it supports some conservation measures in Canada's northern and inland forests. It is also working on a long-term initiative, but that takes time, Mendizabal said. "We're working on these things," Mendizabal said. "We were hopeful that we were on a path to help (the Rainforest Action Network) understand our environmental stewardship. Now we have to decide if we're willing to continue those discussions with this group."
Construction crane used for environmental protest. The banner read: "Wake up Weyerhaeuser. Protect Forests Now." KING 5 TV, February 19, 2004
.Environmentalists Rapel Off Crane to Protest Old-Growth Logging. Associated Press, February 19, 2004
.Weyerhaeuser On Defense In Antitrust Trials, By Bradley Meacham and Hal Bernton, Seattle Times, Feb 12, 2004.
"Weyerhaeuser faces a busy spring in U.S. District Court here as it fends off allegations in three separate trials that it illegally monopolized wood markets across the Northwest. The plaintiffs are small sawmills and lumber companies that claim Weyerhaeuser violated federal law by squeezing them out of the market for alder, a hardwood used for expensive furniture, cabinets and Fender guitars. They want the court to force the company to sell some assets and pay damages totaling more than $300 million, an amount surpassing Weyerhaeuser's 2003 profit. The high-stakes trials --two next month involving five plaintiffs and a third in May with another plaintiff -- are the latest in the Federal Way company's struggle to defend its role in the alder market, where it controls most of the production in the Northwest. Weyerhaeuser sought to postpone the trials until fall and extend the timetable for several months. But U.S. District Court Judge Owen Panner refused and said each trial could likely be completed in nine days or less... Though alder represents a small fraction of Weyerhaeuser's business, the trials have potentially broad implications for the company, which acquired smaller rivals to strengthen its position in a rapidly consolidating global industry. The world's largest lumber company controls about 75 percent of the $400 million Northwest alder industry, which employs about 6,000 people in Washington and Oregon. The trials are scheduled to begin less than a year after a Portland jury found that Weyerhaeuser violated federal law by using monopoly power to manipulate the alder market. It ordered damages - trebled under antitrust law - of $79 million to Ross-Simmons Hardwood, the owner of a Longview sawmill that closed in May 2001. The jury agreed Weyerhaeuser deliberately bid up the price of alder logs to force rivals out of business, tied up log supplies through long-term, exclusive contracts and bought logs it didn't need to deprive rivals of wood supply... Elsewhere, Weyerhaeuser has a win on the antitrust front. In December, the state of Oregon denied a request by a group of sawmills to bar the timber giant from buying alder logged in state-owned forests. The group had contended Weyerhaeuser could kill off small mills by paying high prices for alder, and eventually underbid the rest of the market, lowering the state's proceeds from its wood sales. Oregon agreed with Weyerhaeuser's contention that it generates revenue and jobs for the state and said that allowing the company to buy state wood doesn't hinder competition... In the upcoming trial, Weyerhaeuser cannot contest the existence of a monopoly - at least through 2001 - which it maintained through anti-competitive conduct, Panner wrote. The plaintiffs, however, must prove antitrust injury and that Weyerhaeuser maintained a monopoly through 2002, he wrote. The trial results from a lawsuit filed by four mills: Cascade Hardwoods of Chehalis; Alexander Lumber Mill of Onalaska, Lewis County; and Oregon's Westwood Lumber and Morton Alder Mills. A second lawsuit was filed by Coast Mountain Hardwoods, which operated a sawmill in Delta, B.C., until Weyerhaeuser acquired it in September 2000. The suit alleges Weyerhaeuser illegally kept Coast Mountain in a weak financial position so that it could be acquired. That trial is to begin around March 23. Another trial including Washington Alder of Mount Vernon is scheduled for May. "
Blackfoot Land Deal In Motion, by Eve Byron, Helena Independent Record, Feb 4, 2004.
"The Nature Conservancy has purchased 18,400 acres from Plum Creek Timber in the Blackfoot River Valley for $13.8 million, completing the first installment of a three-stage project designed to protect the area from overdevelopment. As part of what eventually will be a $30 million deal covering 41,588 acres, the Nature Conservancy and Plum Creek closed last Friday on the sale for portions of Ovando Mountain, Monture Creek West, Bear Creek, Tupper Lakes and Marcum Mountain. The Conservancy plans to hold title to the lands temporarily while the Blackfoot Challenge - a local landowner group - works out a community-based plan for the resale of the property to public and private entities. The plan, put together with input from area residents, will include measures to protect conservation and community values on the properties... Some of the properties purchased Friday may be sold to the Bureau of Land Management or the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, since these agencies own adjacent lands and there is a desire for continued public access to them. Some of the other parcels will be sold to private buyers, but will come with conservation easements and other restrictions attached to ensure that while houses may be built upon some of the parcels, the vast majority of the land will not be subdivided and turned into million dollar ranchettes... The second part of the land purchase is expected to take place in May. Tana Kappel, spokeswoman for the Nature Conservancy, said that installment will cover 19,883 acres, including parcels within the Blackfoot Clearwater Wildlife Management Area. Kappel said she's not sure when the third purchase will take place... The total $30 million deal is the Nature Conservancy's largest project in Montana, and among the largest in the Conservancy's 52-year history. The Virginia-based conservation group also has an option to purchase another 46,640 acres from Plum Creek for about $38 million if all goes well with this project. "It's a pretty complex situation, so we want to get the first 41,000 acres closed on before we exercise our option on the other parcel," Kappel said. Friday's closing is the most recent land transaction for Plum Creek, which owns 1.4 million acres in Montana, including an additional 194,000 acres in the Blackfoot Valley. As Plum Creek's acreage is being cleared of timber, instead of waiting for trees to grow back, the company is selling off some of its logged land at prime residential prices. When the sale first was announced, Plum Creek officials said they recognize that the Blackfoot River Valley is a special place, which is why they sold the Nature Conservancy 11,700 acres there in 1996 and were pleased to work with the conservation group and Blackfoot Challenge to facilitate the recent sale."
Frontier Resources Acquires Boise's Yakima Mills. Company news release, Jan 21, 2004.
"Boise Cascade announced today that it has reached agreement for the sale of its Yakima, Washington, plywood plant and sawmill complex to Frontier Resources, LLC, of Eugene, Oregon... Boise will retain ownership of its approximately 200,000 acres of central Washington timberlands and will continue to manage those holdings under the company's forestry programs and environmental policies.
[
Plum Creek To Sell Timberland] SEC Form 8K, January 22, 2004.State Considers Clearwater Easement, Missoulian, Jan 2, 2004.
More than 6,000 acres of key elk and deer winter range in the heart of the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area would be protected under a conservation easement proposed by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. FWP would purcha...
Potlatch Corp. Marks Company's Centennial, Associated Press, Times-News (Potlatch Idaho), January 17, 2004.
"When Frederick Weyerhaeuser died in 1914, his wealth rivaled the Rockefellers. Yet outside lumber towns, few people knew his name. The Weyerhaeusers have always been quiet about their wealth, says Keith Petersen, author of the book "Company Town: Potlatch, Idaho and the Potlatch Lumber Co." In the early 1900s Weyerhaeuser, his relatives and friends founded three lumber companies in the West. One is the company based in Tacoma with the family name. Another is Boise Cascade. The third, and the one the Weyerhaeusers believed would prosper most, Petersen said, was at Potlatch, Idaho. Weyerhaeuser got his start logging in the Great Lakes region, but that was before sustainable logging practices, Petersen said. When those supplies were exhausted, he began looking for new resources. Idaho's forests harbored the greatest remaining stands of white pine in the country. The wood was considered to make the best quality lumber and had buoyancy that helped float the logs down streams in the days before highways. The arrival of the Weyerhaeusers in the state was possibly as significant as the discovery of gold, Petersen said. Once Weyerhaeuser made the decision to come West, other owners of large lumber mills followed, Petersen said. Smaller lumber mills often couldn't compete with the giants in their backyards, who had capital to develop specialized products, Petersen said. Potlatch, for example, made kit homes that came with precut lumber and plans, Petersen said. Many still stand today. "There was not much room for little guys once the Weyerhaeusers came out," he said. "There were a lot of small mills that went belly up really fast." But by Weyerhaeuser's death, the prospects for the mill at Potlatch already had dimmed, Petersen said. The region where the white pines grew had few streams suitable for log drives. To transport logs, Potlatch had to build an expensive network of railroads. Manufacturers discovered the Douglas fir that dominated the forests of the West Coast had many of the same qualities of white pine. When the Panama Canal opened in 1914, it was less expensive to ship Idaho lumber to the East Coast rather than move it by rail. In spite of the initial setbacks, Potlatch has survived 100 years, introducing new products and phasing out old ones. Its history includes the founding of Potlatch, which functioned as a company town until the 1950s. It was one of the largest, longest-surviving company towns in the West, Petersen said. Today the company is the largest private landholder in Idaho and the biggest employer in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley. The Lewiston site alone employs about 2,000 workers. Potlatch also operates in Minnesota, Arkansas and Las Vegas, where it is constructing a new paper towel mill."
Canada Rejects Lumber Quotas, Tacoma (WA) News Tribune, Jan 13, 2004.
Canada on Monday turned down a U.S. proposal aimed at ending steep tariffs on Canadian lumber imports. Provincial governments opposed the deal, which would have dropped the tariffs in exchange for a quota system limiting Canada's access to the U.S. market. The world's largest lumber company, Weyerhaeuser Co., based in Federal Way, has lobbied for a resolution to the long-running dispute. With timber operations on both sides of the border, Weyerhaeuser is caught in the middle - paying out millions in duties but also feeling the impact of lower U.S. wood prices... The Federal Way-based company, which has lumber operations in both U.S. and Canada, paid $64 million in duties in 2002 on wood it exported from Canada..."
Workers Get Payoffs in [Weyerhaeuser] Asbestos Lawsuits, By Anne Saker, News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), Jan 12, 2004.
"Weyerhaeuser settles exposure cases, ending a legal battle that included tales of 'snowstorms' of fibers in the workplace. In one of the largest workers' compensation settlements in state history, Weyerhaeuser Co. has paid millions of dollars to more than 400 employees and retirees of its paper mill in Plymouth who developed permanent health problems after decades of exposure to asbestos. The settlement, completed last month, ends years of struggle in the N.C. Industrial Commission between the timber giant and the workers, some of whom spent as many as 40 years at the Plymouth factory... Commission Chairman Buck Lattimore said Tuesday that he thinks the only settlement larger than Weyerhaeuser's is one with Duke Energy Co., which closed about 600 cases. In 1999, while those cases were being litigated, Duke Energy pledged $800 million to cover asbestos claims in all legal venues... By law, settlements in workers' compensation cases are not public records, and Lattimore and other Industrial Commission officials refused to release details. But the full commission had already granted awards in about 75 cases, ranging from about $36,000 to more than $200,000, including penalties and interest. If the approximately 425 total cases at Plymouth settled for similar amounts, a conservative estimate of the total approaches $20 million..."
Pope Resources Buys Plum Creek Timberland
, Puget Sound Business Journal, December 24, 2003.Potlatch Names William L. Driscoll to Its Board of Directors
. Business Wire, Dec 19, 2003.Weyerhaeuser Unloads More Timberland, Home Channel News, Dec 15, 2003. "Weyerhaeuser has announced its intention to sell approximately 160,000 acres of timberlands to Forest Investment Associates. The transaction involves land in western North Carolina and South Carolina. Based in Atlanta, Forest Investment Associates manages timberland portfolios for major corporate pension plans, state and municipal retirement systems, charitable trusts and endowment funds. Earlier this week, Weyerhaeuser closed a deal on 168,000 acres of Tennessee timberland, which it sold to Fountain Investments Inc. Proceeds will total approximately $70 million. After-tax proceeds from the Carolinas sale will net $140 million. The company said it will use these funds to retire debt. Weyerhaeuser added 1.7 million acres of timberland to its portfolio when it acquired Willamette Industries of Portland, Ore."
Weyerhaeuser Selling Properties in Carolinas
, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Dec 13, 2003. Weyerhaeuser Co. agreed to sell 160,000 acres of timberland in western North Carolina and South Carolina to Forest Investment Associates LP for about $140 million to repay debt. The sale is expected to close by Wednesday, Weyerhaeuser said in a release. Atlanta-based Forest Investments is a closely held company that manages land and timber investments for pension plans and trusts. Weyerhaeuser had long-term debt of $12.1 billion at the end of September, its most recent earnings statement showed. The company said earlier this year it would sell 344,000 acres in Tennessee and the Carolinas and use the money to trim debt, which swelled after it acquired Willamette Industries."Weyerhaeuser Announces Sale of 160,000 Acres in Carolinas to Forest Investment Associates L.P.
Company news release, Dec 12, 2003. "Weyerhaeuser Company will sell approximately 160,000 acres of timberlands in western North Carolina and South Carolina to Forest Investment Associates L.P., the two companies announced jointly today. Weyerhaeuser will use after-tax proceeds totaling approximately $140 million for debt repayment. The sale is expected to close by Dec. 17. Earlier this year, Weyerhaeuser announced its intention to sell approximately 344,000 acres of timberlands in Tennessee and western North and South Carolina. The Tennessee sale closed Dec. 5. Weyerhaeuser, one of the world's largest owners of merchantable softwood timber, added 1.7 million acres to its portfolio with the Willamette acquisition. The company now owns or manages approximately 7 million acres in the United States. Forest Investment Associates L.P., based in Atlanta, Ga., manages timberland portfolios for major corporate pension plans, state and municipal retirement systems, charitable trusts and endowment funds. Weyerhaeuser remains committed to its businesses and operating communities in North and South Carolina. Following the sale, Weyerhaeuser will own or manage approximately 552,000 acres of timberland and 19 operations in North Carolina and operate nine facilities in South Carolina."Weyerhaeuser Finalizes Tennessee Timberlands Sale
. Company news release, Dec 8, 2003. "Weyerhaeuser Company today announced the completion of the previously announced sale of 168,000 acres of timberlands in west-central Tennessee to Fountain Investments Inc. Weyerhaeuser will use after-tax proceeds totaling approximately $70 million for debt repayment. Weyerhaeuser remains committed to its businesses and operating communities in Tennessee and continues to operate 10 facilities in the state."Many Analysts Expect [Boise Cascade] Firm To Shed Lumber, Paper Divisions, by Ken Dey, Idaho Statesman, Dec 15, 2003.
Boise Cascade expects merger to boost cash flow CEO George Harad calls lowering debt the first priority and won't say whether headquarters will stay in Idaho. By by Ken Dey, Idaho Statesman, Dec 15, 2003.
Boise Shareholders Approve OfficeMax Acquisition. Boise cascade news release, Dec 9, 2003.
Sawmills Still At Loggerheads With Weyerhaeuser After Win. Seattle Times, Dec 3, 2003. "The owners of several small sawmills vowed to continue their fight against Weyerhaeuser over allegedly monopolistic business practices, despite a government decision in the company's..."
Canada's Forest Deal Could Change Weyerhaeuser's Ways. Seattle Times, Dec 2, 2003. "Canadians took a major step to protect vast stretches of their northern forest yesterday, a move that could pressure Weyerhaeuser to adopt new environmental safeguards for millions..."
$5 Million to Aid Forest Land Swap
. Associated Press, Seattle Times, Dec 1, 2003. "Congress has provided $5 million to preserve a forested corridor east of Seattle. The money, secured by Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, will supplement a 1999 land exchange between the U.S. Forest Service and Plum Creek Timber Co. Under that deal, Plum Creek ceded 31,000 acres of land to the national forest system in exchange for 12,000 acres from the Wenatchee, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie and Gifford Pinchot national forests. The new money will be used to buy timberland in Kittitas County that had been left out of the deal with Plum Creek. The money marks one of the last steps in a campaign to consolidate a checkerboard pattern of private timberlands and national forests along Interstate 90. But some of the last stands of old growth in the West are in the checkerboard parcels retained by the federal government, said Janine Blaeloch, director of the Western Land Exchange Project. "Theoretically, it's a great idea," said Blaeloch, whose group lobbies to reform federal land-exchange policies. "The problem is most of the native forest and old-growth forest that we have left is in those checkerboards. If our bottom line is going to be ownership consolidation, we're going to continue to trade irreplaceable public forests just to make things look better on a map."A New Kind of Neighborhood: Weyerhaeuser Blends Homes and Harvest By Bradley Meacham, Seattle Times, November 22, 2003. Weyerhaeuser is subdividing some of its Washington State tree farms into 20-acre plots and selling them to individuals as "private, working forests" complete with "plans for where to build a house and drill a well, plus plans for how to manage the trees so they can be most profitably harvested over many years." "Smaller test developments have been done in Snohomish, Thurston and Cowlitz counties, and the plan could be used eventually for thousands of acres of isolated timberland tracts throughout Western Washington. At $100,000 to $190,000 per plot, the sales at the latest project would generate up to $38 million for Weyerhaeuser." "Most of the trees are 15 to 20 years old, with some areas cut and replanted as recently as six years ago. Though the trees could be worth an average of $5,000 an acre if cut now, they could be worth much more in the future."
Tieton Project Secures Funding. By Anna King Herald, Tri-City Herald, Nov 8, 2003. "In Washington, D.C., and Washington state, the Tieton River Canyon is gaining attention as an important resource. The U.S. House and Senate agreed that keeping the Tieton River Canyon pristine is worth about $1 million. The funds are part of Congress's Interior Appropriations bill, and President Bush is expected to give it his final approval before Thanksgiving, said Nature Conservancy of Washington officials. "We are ecstatic," said Betsy Bloomfield, a program manager for the Nature Conservancy of Washington. "It was a very difficult budget year, and this was an extraordinary outcome." The canyon is about 20 miles west of Yakima and stretches from the dry sagelands of the Mid-Columbia to the greener forests of the eastern Cascades. The canyon appears seamless, but the 20,000 acres of mostly untouched wilderness is a jigsaw puzzle of public and private land. Many were concerned the private parcels would be developed after they were sold by a timber company. The Nature Conservancy of Washington launched a campaign earlier this year to protect 10,000 acres in the canyon. The organization plans to buy the land and then turn it over to the federal government for addition to the Wenatchee National Forest. The property, now owned by Plum Creek Timber Co., is within the bounds of the national forest. If the president approves the funding, this will be the first federal support of the campaign and comes on the heels of a Washington state appropriation of $2.5 million. The federal money brings the tally to about $4 million and would buy about 2,000 acres of the sensitive land. The group needs about $9 million to complete the project. "It brings us to about the halfway mark on all the money we need for the Tieton," Bloomfield said. The Nature Conservancy of Washington hopes to complete the project by 2006, she said. The conservancy will continue to seek additional money though federal grants and appropriations, said Len Barson, federal government relations director for the agency. "The fact that it came thought in this year is just incredible," he said."
I-90 Tracts Will Be Preserved From Development. By Debera Carlton Harrell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Nov 4, 2003. Long-sought parcels of land along Interstate 90 will be protected from development and switch ownership -- from Plum Creek Timber Co. to the U.S. Forest Service -- thanks to Congress. The Senate voted 87-2 last night to unlock $5 million in land-acquisition money from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The move was hailed by conservationists in Washington state, who hope to protect I-90 parcels north and south of Cle Elum for recreation and wildlife corridors in the North Cascades. The Interior appropriations bill, approved earlier by the House, is expected to be signed into law by President Bush. The $5 million -- part of a total $29.6 million congressional appropriation for land acquisition, salmon recovery and habitat restoration throughout Washington state -- will allow the Forest Service to buy 2,677 acres. Two parcels are near Salmon la Sac, with two parcels south of Cle Elum near Taneum Creek. "This is really a remarkable appropriation -- a phenomenal result -- particularly at a time when acquisition funds were being slashed,
