Steve Rogel, CEO
Weyerhaeuser
Mail Stop CH 2D23
33663 Weyerhaeuser Way South
Federal Way, WA 98003

RE: Time for Weyerhaeuser to stop unethical forest practices!

Dear Mr. Rogel,

I join millions of concerned citizens and consumers in the United States and worldwide in my deep disappointment at your company's refusal to abide by environmentally responsible business practices.

According to the World Resources Institute, more than three-quarters of the world’s old-growth forests have been destroyed or degraded, much within recent decades. At home, 96 percent of America’s old-growth forests are already gone. Destructive commercial logging degrades our national forests, and remaining native forests are in danger of conversion to monoculture plantations. As a multibillion-dollar corporation with logging operations across North America, South America, Australia and New Zealand, Weyerhaeuser is one of the primary companies responsible for these devastating statistics.

Logging, distributing and selling endangered forest products is a barbaric, outdated practice that is threatening our planet's survival. Forest destruction exacerbates global warming, destroys communities, and diminishes biodiversity. Over 400 companies have already stopped participating in endangered forest destruction.

The promotion of your company as "green" is grossly misleading. We urge you to practice what you preach and take the necessary action today to make the following environmentally ethical commitments:

• Phase out all logging and procurement of wood products from endangered forests globally.
• Cease conversion of native forests to plantations.
• Cease experimentation with genetically modified trees.
• Halt logging on U.S. public lands.
• Attain Forest Stewardship Council certification for all forestry operations.

Acting now to address the global crisis in our forests will help us all work toward building an ecologically sustainable society in our lifetime, protecting the resources that underlie your products. Weyerhaeuser is in a perfect position to seize this opportunity and create an ecological business model that meets the environmental expectations of your customers and communities around the world. The general public--in overwhelming proportions--is tired of waiting for companies like yours to protect the world's forests. A 2001 Los Angeles Times poll indicated that 9 in 10 Americans favor protection of remaining wilderness areas, and 75 percent of Pacific Northwest respondents in a separate poll called for an end to logging in remaining old-growth forests.

It's time for your company to catch up with modern public values and do its part to help begin a new era of corporate accountability that includes environmental ethics. The world is watching.

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