NEWS

Weyerhaeuser to move some jobs out of state

Phil Drake
pdrake@greatfallstribune.com

HELENA – Gov. Steve Bullock said Thursday he had learned that Weyerhaeuser said it will relocate certain administrative jobs out of state, but keep hundreds of timber workers and manufacturers employed in Montana.

Company officials also reportedly told the governor that it would keep its land in Montana open to public use.

“I am disappointed in Weyerhaeuser’s decision to relocate some accounting, human resources, and IT jobs to the company’s corporate headquarters as a result of its merger with Plum Creek, but I am tremendously pleased that hundreds of jobs in Montana’s timber industry will remain in the state,” Bullock said in an email.

On Nov. 9, it was announced that Weyerhaeuser would be buying Plum Creek for $8.44 billion to form what is expected to be one of the world’s biggest timberland and forest products companies.

The company will keep the Weyerhaeuser name and reportedly have more than 13 million acres of timberland.

According to its website, Plum Creek’s main Montana office is in Columbia Falls and it has 765 employees who work in forestry, manufacturing, real estate and land sales. It has 888,000 acres and much of the land is open to the public for free recreational use.

“I am thrilled that Weyerhaeuser honored my request to keep all of its Montana land holdings open to public access,” Bullock said. “I appreciate that Weyerhaeuser plans to share Montana’s values around recreating in our outdoors.”

Bullock and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., wrote Weyerhaeuser’s CEO Doyle Simons in November, asking him to keep Montana workers employed and access to public land intact. He met with Simons over the winter to further the discussion and welcome the company to Montana, state officials said.