Toyota Becomes Official Vehicle of Texas Parks & Wildlife

AUSTIN, Texas, April 22 -- On the 32nd anniversary of Earth Day today, the Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas, Inc. and Texas Parks and Wildlife announced a sponsorship with Toyota and its Texas dealers.

For Texans, this means the automaker will underwrite a weekend of free entry to all Texas state parks, provide major funding for Texas' largest free outdoors festival and fund a promotion that gives anglers a chance to win premium fishing trip packages while raising funds to increase public fishing access.

The sponsorship is the largest ever for a TPW automotive sponsor. It designates Toyota as the Official Vehicle of Texas Parks and Wildlife, which means Toyota is the state agency's sole auto industry sponsor.

``We want to provide a new means of 'Driving Texans to the Outdoors,''' said Mark Bivins, the Foundation board member who helped initiate the new partnership. ``By that we mean encouraging people to enjoy hunting, fishing and state parks and to be good stewards of our state's natural and cultural resources.''

The Toyota sponsor agreement runs through March 2003. All parties have said they hope to grow the partnership long-term.

``This sponsorship will make possible things we could not afford to do otherwise for our state park visitors, hunters and anglers,'' said Robert L. Cook, TPW executive director. ``There's never enough funding to do everything for Texas conservation, which is one reason sponsorships are so important. The Texas Legislature gave us specific direction last session to choose and manage our corporate sponsorships responsibly, and we're doing that here. This is a great deal for Texas, and we are grateful to the folks at Toyota for their support.''

Toyota has a history of support for environmental conservation. It was the first automaker to receive the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Global 500 Award for development of environmental technologies and measures, including introduction of the Prius, the world's first hybrid gas/electric passenger vehicle in mass production. The Sierra Club recognized the Prius with its ``Excellence in Environmental Engineering'' award during Earth Day 2000.

``This partnership is right in line with Toyota's demonstrated commitment to do all we can for our outdoor environment,'' said Toby Hynes, president of Gulf States Toyota, Inc., the company's regional distributor based in Houston. ``At a time when air quality is a growing problem Texas cities, we are optimistic that the Prius can be part of the solution and are proud that our trucks have the best emission control and fuel economy in their classes. When people head to the outdoors in our trucks, we want them to feel they have a partner to help keep Texas great.''

There are 71 Toyota dealers in Texas in addition to the Lexus and Toyota Industrial Equipment dealers in the state. Together, the dealers have invested $625 million in their facilities and employ 7,182 people in Texas.

The Toyota sponsorship will make possible the Lone Star Legacy Weekend on Oct. 19-20, with free entry to all state parks, as well as participating wildlife management areas and fish hatcheries.

Toyota is also a top tier sponsor for Texas Wildlife Expo on Oct. 5-6 in Austin, where visitors of all ages can try biking, fishing, shooting, rock climbing, kayaking and more -- all at no cost. The event relies almost entirely on sponsor donations to remain free to the public. Last year, the Expo drew more than 44,000 people from across the state, making it Texas' largest free outdoors event.

Toyota is also sponsoring the Reel Texas Adventures fishing promotion, in which anglers can buy $5 chances to win the Saltwater Slam or Big Bass Bonanza fishing trips. And, Toyota is donating a new Tundra truck for a sweepstakes conducted by the Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas, Inc. Details are on the TPW website at www.tpwd.state.tx.us/reeltexas/index.htm

Toyota will also fund site maps given out at each state park and promote TPW conservation license plates at all of its Texas dealers. These include the horned lizard license plate benefiting wildlife diversity, the bluebonnet plate supporting state parks and the new white-tailed deer and largemouth bass plates benefiting big game hunting and largemouth bass fishing in Texas.

Toyota and its Texas dealers will support TPW through the Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas. The privately operated, non-profit foundation was established in 1991 to help support public conservation projects in Texas with private funds, and has since raised more than $35 million for Texas conservation.

Texas Parks and Wildlife is the state agency responsible for state parks and fish and wildlife conservation. It operates 122 Texas state parks, 51 wildlife management areas and eight fish hatcheries. Through its grant programs, the agency provides tens of millions of dollars in state funding each year for city and county park projects across Texas. The agency has a combined operating, grants and capital budget of about $245 million for 2002 and employs about 3,000 workers statewide, with fisheries and wildlife biologists and game wardens that serve every Texas county.

Houston-based Gulf States Toyota is the independent distributor serving 141 dealers in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Gulf States Toyota introduced the first Toyotas into the region in 1969.

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) is the marketing, sales, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota in the U.S. Toyota is America's fourth-largest automaker and manufactures more than one million cars per year in North America. TMS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation ; ADRs are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Established in 1957, TMS oversees operations of more than 1,395 Toyota and Lexus dealerships in 49 states. TMS' goal is to become the ``most successful and respected car company in America.'' The company's main website is www.toyota.com