Tamarisk Control Project to Make Significant Improvements to Wildlife Habitat and Aid Human Access to Important Water Sheds

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., June 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The tamarisk treehas been called 'the wickedest weed out West.' It's a non-native, invasivespecies that severely depletes rivers and watersheds at a rate of up to 300gallons of water per day per tree. Tackling the tamarisk problem is a vitallyimportant part of improving the health of rivers and wildlife habitat acrossthe nation and especially in Colorado and other parts of the Rockies.

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To help remove and control tamarisk trees along impacted watersheds,Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) announced today that it has launched asignificant conservation effort with an initial contribution of $100,000 tothe National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). The Company has committed toprovide total funding of up to $350,000 through 2009 to benefit the majorwatersheds and tributaries of the Colorado River.

Marathon's contribution to NFWF will be directed to assist The NatureConservancy in completing the removal of tamarisk along 40 miles of the SanMiguel River - one of the last remaining free-flowing rivers in the West. Withadditional funding provided by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, a total of$160,000 is directed to the San Miguel tamarisk project. The announcement isthe culmination of nearly a year of planning and coordination between Marathonand the organizations.

'One of Marathon's core values is to help preserve the environment forfuture generations. We know that we are guests in the communities in which wework; and therefore, we live by our principles of promoting sustainablesocial, environmental and economic benefits wherever we operate,' said StevenP. Guidry, Marathon's regional vice president, North America ProductionOperations.

'Marathon is committed to promoting the public-private partnershipsnecessary to address this major challenge.