Bay of Fundy back in the New 7 Wonders Race

The Bay of Fundy is back on the international stage in the New7Wonders of Nature contest. In an unprecedented turn of events the Bay of Fundy, which placed 2nd in the first phase of the contest that concluded January 7, 2009 is now representing Canada!

The New7Wonders of Nature organization, based in Brussels, reinstated the Bay of Fundy this week. "We can confirm that Dinosaur Provincial Park did not meet the Phase II participation requirements" said Tia Viering of the New7Wonders. "Therefore, it is with great pleasure that we announce that the Bay of Fundy is now officially Canada's national representative.”

“As 2008 came to a close, we knew we were in an extremely close race to represent Canada in this phase of the contest,” said Terri McCulloch, Manager Bay of Fundy Tourism. “We were honored by the incredible number of votes the Bay of Fundy received in the first round of the contest. We are very passionate about the Bay of Fundy and believe it is truly a beautiful wonder of nature. We are privileged to represent Canada and we hope everyone will be as enthusiastic again and vote for the Bay of Fundy. We only have until July 7th to get as many votes as we can for this next stage of the contest.”

The Bay of Fundy is best known for the highest tides in the world and has been compared, in marine biodiversity, to the Amazon Rainforest. The Bay is the summer feeding area for half the world's population of endangered North Atlantic Right whales and 12 other whale species. It is home to the world's most complete fossil record of the "Coal Age” (300 million years ago) as well as the world’s oldest reptiles and Canada’s oldest dinosaurs. UNESCO recently recognized the upper Bay of Fundy as a Biosphere Reserve and Joggins Fossil Cliffs as a World Heritage Site.

Canadians from coast to coast are encouraged to go online to votemyfundy.com to place their vote before July 7, 2009, when the top 77 international sites will be short listed. Between July 7 and 21, an independent committee will select the top 21 to continue into the fourth and final stage of the campaign. These top 21 sites will also be part of a 2010 New7Wonders world tour bringing tremendous international attention to the selected sites. Phase four is the last voting component of the New7Wonders of Nature campaign until the final announcement is made on who has been selected the New7Wonders of Nature.

“We only have a few weeks left in this phase of the contest so every vote is important and interested voters can go to Votemyfundy.com or new7wonders.com. We are really excited to be back in the running and we hope we can succeed in getting Canada’s Bay of Fundy into the next international phase of the campaign,” said Terri McCulloch.

Watch out for the Joggins Fossil Cliffs on the news this evening as we support the Bay of Fundy's bid to be one of the New 7 Natural Wonders of the World.