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Northwest Airlines Partners with The Nature Conservancy to Protect Tennessee

New program will include Mississippi River Valley and Cumberland Plateau

Nashville, TN — December 14, 2007 — Northwest Airlines has announced the launch of a new environmental partnership with The Nature Conservancy, which includes a focus on key Conservancy initiatives in the Mississippi River Valley and the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee.

Under Northwest’s new EarthCares program, the airline company will make a $1 million gift over three years to The Nature Conservancy for restoration and protection of forestland in the Mississippi River Valley, including forested wetlands in West Tennessee. This forestland will be protected from development and used to sequester and store carbon — a key component in the fight against global climate change. The Nature Conservancy will use conservation easements — the most cost efficient way to provide conservation at scale — to obtain land for reforestation. Benefits include improving wildlife habitat and freshwater quality, and removing carbon from the atmosphere.

Northwest’s new program will also support the recent preservation of 127,000 forested acres on the northern Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, which was accomplished by The Nature Conservancy and the state of Tennessee this past fall. The project connects majestic forestlands with existing state landholdings at the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area and Frozen Head State Park.

In protecting these areas that are adjacent to public lands, the Conservancy and its partners have created a protective corridor for wildlife as well as preserving a natural sanctuary for the public. All of this land will now be open to the public for recreation. The initiative is the largest conservation transaction in Tennessee since the dedication of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1940.

“It’s extremely gratifying that Northwest Airlines has chosen two key areas in Tennessee to support with their new environmental initiative,” said Scott Davis, state director for The Nature Conservancy in Tennessee. “With the support of Northwest and its customers, we can make a lasting difference in the forests along the Mississippi and in the Cumberlands for people and nature.”

In addition, Northwest’s partnership focuses on other strategic Conservancy projects around Northwest’s U.S. hubs in Minnesota and Michigan as well as the Conservancy’s program in China. Northwest Airlines has hubs located in Amsterdam, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Detroit, Tokyo and Memphis. In addition to its Memphis hub, Northwest flies regular routes in Tennessee into and out of Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville and Bristol.

Northwest customers will soon be able to support all of these projects in three convenient ways:

• Through online donations at NWA.com
• Donation of frequent flyer miles
• Contributions to offset carbon emissions on Northwest flights.

For addition details, see Northwest Airlines' press release.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.