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Weyerhaeuser (), based in Federal Way, Washington, United States, is the largest pulp and paper company in the world. A multinational corporation, Weyerhaeuser has manufacturing operations in countries which include the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Mexico, Ireland, France, and Uruguay. Weyerhaeuser has nearly 50,000 employees in 20 countries (primarily in the U.S. and Canada). It is the world's largest private owner of softwood timberland, managing 38 million acres (154,000 km²) in five countries, and is the second largest owner in the United States, behind International Paper.
Corporate history
Weyerhaeuser was founded in January of 1900 by Friedrich Weyerhäuser and 15 partners with 900,000 acres (3,600 km²) of Washington timberland. In 1929, the company built what was then the world's largest sawmill in Longview, Washington. In 1931, the company started producing pulp at its pulp mill in Longview, which sustained it financially through the Great Depression. In 1959, the company changed its name to Weyerhaeuser Company, eliminating the word "Timber" to better reflect its operations. In 1965, Weyerhaeuser built its first bleached kraft pulp mill in Canada. In 1967, Weyerhaeuser implemented its High Yield Forestry Plan. High Yield Forestry drew upon 30 years of forestry research and field experience. It called for planting of seedlings within one year of harvest, soil fertilization, thinning, rehabilitation of brushlands, and eventually genetic improvement of trees. In the late 1990s, the company consolidated its core businesses and exited its long held interests in mortgage banking, personal care products, financial services, and information systems consulting. Weyerhaeuser also made expansions into South America, Australia, and the rest of Asia. In 1999, Weyerhaeuser purchased MacMillan Bloedel Limited, a large Canadian forestry company. In 2005, Weyerhaeuser joined Information Protection Solutions of America, a consortium of document destruction companies, to facilitate Weyerhaeuser's entrance into the document destruction market. * Current operations Weyerhaeuser now has timber operations or offices in 44 American states, Canada, and 18 other nations. It imports timber products from Malaysia, Chile, and Brazil. In North America, Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest distributors of wood products. The company owns over seven million acres (28,000 km²) of land in the U.S., and owns or holds logging rights to more than 35 million acres (142,000 km²) of land in Canada. Weyerhaeuser has diversified widely beyond its roots in lumber and wood products, and today controls a vast network of over 100 subsidiaries in fields including construction, real estate sales and development (often on its cutover lands). The company's operations are now divided into five major business segments: The company also has an IT internship program that develops professionals for its IT department. Corporate governance Current members of the board of directors of Weyerhaeuser are: Richard Haskayne, Robert Herbold, Martha Rivers Ingram, John W. Kieckhefer, Arnold Langbo, Don Mazankowski, Nicole Piasecki, Steven Rogel, Richard Sinkfield, D. Michael Steuert, James Sullivan, and Charles Williamson. Criticism There have been some activists who have complained about company policies ranging from clear-cut logging to conversion of native forests to tree plantations devoid of biodiversity and mill closures, among others. Weyerhaeuser is North America’s top logger and distributor of forest products. Other companies have begun dissociating themselves from endangered forest destruction, including American forest products company Boise Cascade Corporation At this point, Weyerhaeuser has ignored demands and, according to some environmentalists, has not adequately responded to the crisis facing the world’s forests. Weyerhaeuser has made many claims that their operations are “green”, however, facts tell a different story. On the other hand, Weyerhaeser has access to more than 128,000 square kilometers (50,000 mile²) of Canadian public land. One third of Weyerhaeuser’s softwood timber comes solely from Canadian forests. In 1999, Weyerhaeuser purchased MacMillan Bloedel, a large Canadian timber company that had agreed in 1998 to phase out clear-cut harvesting in British Columbia and pursue a new strategy to conserve old growth and wildlife habitat. However, Weyerhaeuser has not honoured the commitment. In addition, Weyerhaeuser's Kenora, Ontario mill has been heavily criticized as a toxic pulp and paper mill that is poisoning the people of Grassy Narrows. Indigenous resistance In Ontario, Weyerhaeuser purchases fiber for its Kenora and Dryden mills from forests within the traditional territory of the people of Asubpeeschoseewagong, or the Grassy Narrows First Nation. Weyerhaeuser buys 50% of the 1.4 million cubic meters of wood harvested by Canadian timber company Abitibi in the Whiskey Jack forest, part of which is the traditional territory of Grassy Narrows. As a result, the Grassy Narrows First Nation have used non-violent direct action, in the form of blockades and protests, to try to halt logging on their traditional territory. The Grassy Narrows First Nation is located 80 kilometers north of Kenora, in Northern Ontario, with a band membership of more than one thousand. The reserve is surrounded by over 2,500 square miles of forest within the band's "Traditional Land Use Area", an area where the band has hunted, trapped, gathered berries, and fished for thousands of years. These forests make it possible for the people of Grassy Narrows to maintain many traditions which have been passed down from generation to generation. Large-scale timber harvests since the 1950's have decimated these forests, and altered the Ojibway way of life forever. Large piles of trees are wasted, left to decay after they have been cut. Remaining land left after a cut is covered in herbicide and other chemicals, killing blueberry bushes and plants traditionally used for medicinal purposes. Without the forests, much of the wildlife is also disappearing, making it impossible to continue hunting and trapping on Grassy Narrows' traditional land. According to Joe Fobister, spokesperson for the Grassy Narrows First Nation Environmental Committee, "Over 50 percent of our traditional land has been clear-cut. There's reforestation but it's all monoculture tree farming. They plant trees they're going to harvest again. The land is turning into a tree farm." Weyerhaeuser has no right to turn the forests of Grassy Narrows into paper. Aboriginal treaty rights set out in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and secured by Treaty In response to the destruction of their land, the people of Grassy Narrows have resisted in every way they know how. From posting signs on all roads into the traditional land use area "declaring their land rights," to non-violent human blockades to obstruct logging roads, to filing a lawsuit against the Ontario government for allowing Abitibi to continue operations, the people of Grassy Narrows are not giving up without a fight. Guns On October 1, 2002, the company sent gun and drug sniffing dogs into the parking lot of their Valliant, Oklahoma plant looking for drugs in cars in response to an employee drug overdose. They found no drugs, but the dogs alerted on 12 cars with guns in them. The company then ordered the employees to open their cars for a hand search, and rifles, shotguns, and handguns were found. The 12 employees were immediately suspended. Two days later, the company fired all 12 employees, including a shift supervisor of 23 years with an exemplary record. Jimmy 'Red' Wyatt and all the others said that they were never told of the policy change, extending the company gun ban to the parking lot, which had occurred in 2002. The plant manager, Mr. Nebel said that firing the men was difficult but he felt safer with all the guns out of the parking lot. Mr. Nebel stated that all the employees had been warned of the policy change. Several of the fired men have filed a civil suit against Weyerhaeuser for wrongful termination, with Tulsa attorney Larry Johnson representing them. Mr.Johnson, a longtime Second Amendment lawyer, said that this was an injustice that must be addressed. * | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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