Thanks, Steve. It's an honor to follow you as president of this great company. Every shareholder, employee, associate, customer and supplier is grateful for your strong leadership. With integrity, vision and dedication, you've led us during a period of unprecedented change. Your tenure has guided us into our second century, and we'll continue to benefit from your business savvy, wisdom and insight as we chart a path forward.
On behalf of all of us, thank you.
Before my comments today, I'd also like to acknowledge a new member of our Senior Management Team -- Larry Burrows, who assumed the role of President and CEO of WRECO on March 31. Larry is a 32-year veteran of the real estate industry. He joined WRECO's Winchester Homes subsidiary in 1989, and became the president of Winchester in 2003. Larry is a proven leader, with the experience to lead WRECO through the challenging market conditions we now face, and to position our real estate business for future growth. As a member of the company's Senior Management Team, Larry's strategic thinking and collaborative approach will be critical as we chart Weyerhaeuser's future direction.
One month ago, I shared with employees my perspective on the state of the company, and the path ahead.
It came down to three words: "Trees define us."
Now, let me say that again..."Trees define us."
This isn't a "stop-the-presses" announcement.
After all, we've been on this path for 108 years. But never before have we possessed so many opportunities to unleash the potential in our trees and our land.
You see this belief in our ads that simply ask: "What can a tree be?" But this is not just an advertising slogan. It's a challenge to us as employees... a challenge that invites us to open our minds to countless possibilities in wood, fiber and land.
Think about it: "What can a tree be?"
It's a promise to our shareholders, our customers and our communities. It's a promise that we will invent new uses and products from the renewable resources on our land.
"What can a tree be?" It's a contract with society... a contract to manage these valuable resources -- trees, and the land on which they grow in a sustainable way. This great potential in our trees and our land gives me optimism and confidence about the future of our company.
This is our opportunity.
We will seize this opportunity to change and grow. Ours is a future that combines ingenuity and discipline, with innovation, sustainable forestry, and unparalleled land stewardship.
Since assuming my new role as president just 3 months ago, I've already had the opportunity to meet with shareholders who own over 40 percent of our stock. My message to them, as it is to you, is simple: "Trees define us." Our assets are the trees, the land, and our management of those assets.
Our shareholders agree. They provide the financial capital, and then look to us to deploy the skills and technology to create the greatest opportunity to grow their investment.
To fulfill this contract with shareholders, we must operate on a world-class scale, with industry-leading returns. We haven't always done that, but our aggressive actions to reshape this company move us ever closer to that goal.
I've been with Weyerhaeuser 32 years. I've seen business success and business setback. Each time, I've seen that the best path lies in driving forward with purpose and conviction, and we're doing that again. In the process, we're creating a great future, in part, by letting go of the past.
Our transactions with Domtar and International Paper reflect that view.
Trees are the constant tie to our beginnings.
In the future, we'll operate on a world-class scale and profitability in Timberlands. We will have other businesses, but we will only manufacture products where we have the technology, a unique skill or opportunity, and the ability to do so in a capital-efficient manner. This is how we are positioning Weyerhaeuser to grow in areas that present the greatest opportunities for value creation.
As we create this future, we'll be assisted by the natural system that defines life on earth -- photosynthesis. So strong is our belief in this solar-powered manufacturing process, that it's featured on the cover of our annual report.
We tell the story of photosynthesis for a reason. Its regenerative power is the reason our resource is renewable. We're often frustrated by a science-challenged media that portrays saving a tree as an environmental virtue. This mistaken belief is based on the notion that we're running out of trees, and that using wood is bad for the environment.
That belief is dead wrong.
First, we're not running out of trees where we operate. Each day, the North American forest industry plants more than 1.7 million trees. We're proud that Weyerhaeuser is a leader in this effort. Last year Weyerhaeuser alone planted more than 170 million trees. The sun and the rain do the rest.
By replanting more trees than we harvest, our industry has helped America's forestlands increase by 12 million acres since 1987. We actually have more forests today than we did twenty years ago.
Second, wood is a sound environmental choice.
Each mature tree removes about 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide a year from the air. Put another way, for every one-million acres of forest we manage, we sequester about 370,000 metric tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide that remains locked in the products that we manufacture. That's equivalent to removing 68,000 cars from the road every year.
Whether it's a basic 2 x 4 used in framing a house, or engineered lumber in a structural floor system, the products we make from sustainably managed forests offset some of the negative consequences of our industrial age. At a time when the world is looking to the power of green, and to green power, we have the answer.
We've only scratched the surface of the potential to use our timberlands to provide green answers.
In late February, we signed an agreement with Chevron, creating a new joint venture called "Catchlight Energy." This groundbreaking joint venture was formed to develop the next generation of renewable cellulose-based transportation fuels. Catchlight relies on non-food fiber to provide a solution for a world concerned about sustainable energy. Weyerhaeuser and Chevron are two great companies with shared pride in ingenuity, research and technology. Our timberlands and stewardship of the land are critical to Catchlight's success.
In the future that we envision, we are not tied to cyclical markets, or the constraints of commodity production. Instead, we have greater freedom to use our minds, our trees, and targeted manufacturing to shape our success.
For example, today when we look at a kraft mill, we may think only of the pulp it manufactures. But what if we changed the way we view those mills? What if we stepped back and said these are really chemical plants that happen to make pulp?
If you still doubt what is possible with trees, let me show you something.
Can a tree become part of a car? Yes.This is a transmission mount can be manufactured from carbon fiber which is a by-product of our pulp manufacturing process.
"What can a tree be?" Whatever we imagine it to be.
Our future, like our past, is about releasing the potential in trees and land.
The process and products may be new, but the inspiration unchanged.
Count on it. The trees and land remain constant.
For employees here today, I challenge you to see the potential. Embrace the challenges, and the change.
For our shareholders, I thank you for your support, and commit to you that we're on a course that creates great opportunities for value creation.
So let me close the way I began: "What can a tree be?"
Whatever we imagine.
Or perhaps the question is better asked: "What can't a tree be?"
For all of us at Weyerhaeuser, we'll be working to answer this question.
Thanks very much for your attendance today, and for your critical support.
