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                                                                      EXHIBIT 99


NEWS RELEASE                                For further information
FOR RELEASE AT 4:15 P.M.                    Media Contact:    Martin H. Arnold
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1996                                    203-964-4621
                                            Investor Contact: John A. Doumlele
                                                              203-964-4486


     RAYONIER ANNOUNCES EARNINGS CHARGE RELATED TO ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENT


         STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, October 9, 1996 -- Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN)
announced in a Form 8-K filing with the SEC today that it expects to take a
fourth quarter earnings charge relating to a Statement of Position (SOP) by the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, to be released shortly,
which will prescribe generally accepted accounting principles for environmental
remediation liabilities. The SOP more specifically defines the accounting
treatment for both remediation and monitoring costs. Although adoption is not
mandatory until 1997, the company indicated that it will adopt the Statement of
Position in 1996. This will result in a fourth quarter pretax charge between
$130-$160 million (after-tax, $80-100 million) related to long term, future
environmental monitoring activities associated with its Southern Wood Piedmont
wood treating business that was discontinued in 1986.
         "Rayonier had already accrued its best estimate of clean-up remediation
and closure liabilities after discontinuing this operation, which included
closing eleven sites," said Gerald J. Pollack, senior vice president and chief
financial officer. "However, the monitoring and administration costs, running
approximately $4 million pretax per year, have been considered an ongoing
obligation and expensed each year. The soon to-be-released SOP now directly
includes monitoring costs in the liabilities that must be accrued on the balance
sheet and the company will conform to this new requirement.
         "This is strictly a book treatment and the company's cash flow will not
change as a result of this pronouncement as the expenditures were already being
incurred and will continue to be incurred, plus inflation, at approximately the
same rate over the next 25-30 years resulting in the total obligation as
reflected in the pretax charge," Pollack said.

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         The company said it believes that the accounting pronouncement will
allow for the obligation to either be recorded at nominal amounts or be
discounted to present value. Ron Gross, chairman and chief executive officer,
said that "although the undiscounted liability is large in relation to the
annual expenditures due to the extended time frame involved, we are electing to
book the nominal, gross amount in order to get the remaining obligations for
Southern Wood Piedmont behind us and to eliminate any impact on future earnings
per share." Rayonier said that ongoing monitoring expenditures for Southern Wood
Piedmont in 1996 would approximate 8 cents per share.
         "Booking the nominal amount will raise our projected leverage by
approximately 3.2 percentage points which should not affect our debt ratings and
borrowing costs as our interest and cash flow coverages remain the same,"
Pollack said. At June 30, 1996, Rayonier's debt to capital ratio was 37.0
percent.
         Rayonier is a global supplier of specialty pulps, timber and wood
products. The company has 1.5 million acres of timber in the U.S. and New
Zealand. About 60 percent of Rayonier's sales are to international customers in
70 countries. Sales in 1995 were $1.3 billion.

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