Weyerhaeuser Company has published a specially-prepared employers' guide for companies with operations in areas affected by natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. The "Rebuilding a Community: An Employer's Guide to Assisting Employees" is now available to other employers across the United States.

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Following the 1999 devastation of Hurricane Floyd, Weyerhaeuser put in place an emergency response effort that was widely praised by its employees, affected communities where company facilities were located, relief agencies, government officials and business groups. As Weyerhaeuser began to respond to Hurricane Katrina, the company decided to formally document its emergency response process and to make it available to other companies and organizations. The "Rebuilding a Community: An Employer's Guide to Assisting Employees" is the result.

"As we all deal with the devastation caused by these storms, we hope that our experiences and processes might prove useful to other companies or organizations," said Steven R. Rogel, Weyerhaeuser chairman, president and chief executive officer. "U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez inquired about our coordinated approach with me and we offered to make this material available to other employers. We're happy to offer this assistance."

Internally, Weyerhaeuser has established an "adopt-a-family" process to link employee teams throughout the company with Weyerhaeuser families, individuals and retirees whose lives were disrupted by Hurricane Katrina and has established an employee assistance fund for employees to be able to donate directly to help other employees, through the United Way of Pierce County.

Weyerhaeuser has also designated a dedicated coordinator to oversee the effort and to serve as a liaison with the external agencies on behalf of our employees. As with Floyd, this has proven to be one of the most beneficial aspects of the approach.

"Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by this disaster," said Rogel. "Weyerhaeuser and our employees have a long history of providing support to our communities as they struggle to recover from disasters."

Weyerhaeuser had more than 250 employees and retirees directly impacted by the storms, with some suffering deaths of family members and total losses of their homes and property.

In early September the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation announced a direct cash donation of $500,000 to the American Red Cross support relief and rebuilding efforts of areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Since then, almost $100,000 in additional emergency Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation grants to various relief organizations have been awarded.

In addition, Weyerhaeuser employees continue to help fellow employees and other Gulf Coast victims of the recent hurricanes with cash donations, supplies for survivors and thousands of volunteer hours working in shelters, feeding relief workers and helping with clean-up efforts.

For instance, in the first days following the storm, Weyerhaeuser employees in Iowa sent six truckloads of supplies to fellow employees in McComb and Magnolia, Miss., providing some of the first relief supplies on the ground in these communities.

Weyerhaeuser employs almost 5,000 people at 44 locations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, including heavily-impacted communities in south Mississippi and Louisiana. The company manages more than 2.4 million acres of timberlands in the three states.

Rogel said that the magnitude of the destruction will require long-term support, and that Weyerhaeuser senior managers, the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation and employees in the affected states will continue to assess and implement ways Weyerhaeuser can respond to specific needs as they are realized.

The "Rebuilding a Community: An Employer's Guide to Assisting Employees" is available online at:

  http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/katrina/#Employers_Guide

  Or, by contacting hurricane.katrina@weyerhaeuser.com.

Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY), one of the world's largest integrated forest products companies, was incorporated in 1900. In 2004, sales were $22.7 billion. It has offices or operations in 19 countries, with customers worldwide. Weyerhaeuser is principally engaged in the growing and harvesting of timber; the manufacture, distribution and sale of forest products; and real estate construction, development and related activities. Additional information about Weyerhaeuser's businesses, products and practices is available at http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/ .

   For more information contact:
   Frank Mendizabal, 253-924-3357
   Jackie Walburn, 334-963-2270

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SOURCE: Weyerhaeuser Company

CONTACT: Frank Mendizabal, 253-924-3357
Jackie Walburn, 334-963-2270

Web site: http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/