<B>Willamette Board Recommends Rejecting Weyerhaeuser Bid</B>

Willamette Industries’ board of directors unanimously recommended shareholders reject Weyerhaeuser’s bid to acquire the company. Weyerhaeuser’s bid was for $48 per share. Willamette’s board felt the offer was inadequate.

According to Duane McDougall, president and CEO of Willamette, "Our board's position remains clear and unanimous -- Willamette is not for sale. We have a proven track record as an independent company of delivering shareholder value. We have a strong, results-oriented culture; we are the most vertically integrated, low-cost producer in our industry; and we have effectively deployed our capital and assets over the course of many years. As a result of these and other intangibles, we are extremely well positioned to continue to produce earnings per share growth in excess of our peer group over the cycle. With approximately $1 billion of investments in new value enhancing projects since 1997, we are optimistic about our future."

In making its determination, the Willamette board considered a number of factors, including the following:

The Board's belief that the offer price is inadequate and that the Weyerhaeuser offer does not reflect the long-term value inherent in the company; - the board's belief that the offer price does not reflect the significant value-enhancing initiatives taken by the company over the last few years aimed at seizing market opportunity and increasing earnings per share growth; and management's belief that, based on the current pricing environment, if all of the value-enhancing initiatives previously disclosed were complete, they would add in excess of $340 million to annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.