Weyerhaeuser Will Buy Land In Georgia

Weyerhaeuser Co. said Friday it has agreed to buy 240,700 acres of Southern timberland, including 90,600 acres near its mills in central Georgia.

Weyerhaeuser operates a pulp mill in Oglethorpe and a lumber sawmill in Barnesville. The Georgia purchase will be used for timber production, the company said.

With a total of 300,000 acres in Georgia, Tacoma-based Weyerhaeuser is now one of the state’s largest timber owners, said David Westmoreland, director of the Georgia Forestry Commission.

“It’s good news in terms of the effect it’s going to have on Georgia’s economy,” he said.

Weyerhaeuser also is buying 56,600 acres in Alabama, 9,800 acres in southern North Carolina and 83,700 acres in northern South Carolina.