Wells Fargo and Arbor Day Foundation Aiding Restoration of Forest Ecosystem on North Carolina Sandhills

Lincoln, Neb. (May 15, 2013) – With the generous support of Wells Fargo, the Arbor Day Foundation has just completed the replanting of tens of thousands of longleaf pine trees on the North Carolina Sandhills, restoring vital forestland and ecosystems in the fire-prone community.

The North Carolina coast contains vast stretches of longleaf pine trees, but these forests have dropped to just four percent of their original range over the past fifty years.

The Foundation and Wells Fargo supported the planting of 400 trees per acre, for a total of 50,000 trees this spring.

Replanting of longleaf pine forests in North Carolina is crucial to the long-term survival of the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker and many other species, as well as the protection of water resources throughout the southeastern corner of the state. The newly-planted trees were carefully selected to adapt to these fire-prone areas.

Warranty Solutions, a Wells Fargo Business, is supporting similar high-need replanting projects in the Idaho Panhandle and South Carolina's Manchester State Forest.

"With the support of Wells Fargo and Warranty Solutions, the Foundation is restoring critical ecosystems people and wildlife depend on to survive," said John Rosenow, founder and chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation.

"Wells Fargo is proud to extend our longstanding collaboration with the Arbor Day Foundation with this important effort to restore vital forests in North Carolina," said Jack Clayton, Wells Fargo Triangle East Regional President. "As we make a concerted effort to be environmentally minded in all we do, we also invite our customers to reduce or eliminate paper in banking. If every Wells Fargo customer chose Online Only Statements, we would collectively conserve the equivalent of more than 4.5 million trees – enough to provide oxygen for 2.25 million people for one year."

The five-year relationship between Wells Fargo and the Arbor Day Foundation has already resulted in 630,000 trees being planted in forests and communities around the country.

More information about Wells Fargo's efforts to promote energy efficiency, healthy communities, renewable energy and other benefits is available on the company's Environmental Forum blog (blog.wellsfargo.com/environment). More information on Wells Fargo's collaboration with the Foundation is available at arborday.org/wellsfargo.

The tree planting in state and national forests is part of the Arbor Day Foundation's continued partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. Through these partnerships, the Foundation has planted 25 million trees in more than 200 projects in the past 20 years.

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About the Arbor Day Foundation: The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation and education organization of one million members, with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs can be found at arborday.org, or by visiting us on Facebook at facebook.com/arborday or Twitter at twitter.com/arborday.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.4 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs, the Internet (wellsfargo.com), and has offices in more than 35 countries to support the bank's customers who conduct business in the global economy. With more than 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 26 on Fortune's 2012 rankings of America's largest corporations. Wells Fargo's vision is to satisfy all our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially.

A leader in reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions and building sustainably, Wells Fargo has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Center for Corporate Climate Leadership, the Carbon Disclosure Project and the U.S. Green Building Council. Since 2005, Wells Fargo has provided more than $21 billion in environmental finance, supporting sustainable buildings and renewable energy projects nationwide. This includes investments in more than 260 solar projects and 34 wind projects that generate enough clean renewable energy to power hundreds of thousands of American homes each year. For more information, please visit. www.wellsfargo.com/environment.