Rain allows Weyerhaeuser to resume planting

Wednesday, February 1st 2006, 11:50 am

By: News On 6

IDABEL, Okla. (AP) _ Recent rains are allowing Weyerhaeuser Co., one of the nation's largest producers of lumber and paper, to resume planting pine seedlings in parched parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma, a spokeswoman says.

The company had delayed planting on 70,000 acres in southeast Oklahoma and southwest Arkansas because of drought that had left the region more than 20 inches behind in normal rainfall last year.

But several inches of rain had fallen by last weekend, allowing planting to continue, said Weyerhaeuser spokeswoman Kathy Stacey. About 300 planters are expected in the region in the next two weeks.

``We expect to complete the job and plant all of our planned acres, but we expect that our planting season will be extended three to four weeks longer than normal,'' Stacey said. ``We usually try to finish by the middle of March.''

It was the first time the company had ever had to halt planting because of drought, she said.