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Chris Morris
Telegraph-Journal

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The votes have been cast and they're being counted but it will be Wednesday before Maritimers know whether their beloved Bay of Fundy has been chosen as the Canadian finalist in the "New 7 Wonders of Nature" contest.

Terri McCulloch of the bay of Fundy Tourism Partnership in Parrsboro, N.S., says she is optimistic the diverse Bay will be the top choice of Canadians, but she says Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta has been nipping at Fundy's heels throughout the voting.

"We've been neck-and-neck with Dinosaur Park," she said in an interview, adding the bay appeared to be clinging to the number-one spot as of New Year's Eve, when voting ended.

"They have dinosaurs. It's great - I've been there. It's a nice place. But we have dinosaurs, and fossils, and tides, whales, migratory birds and huge tidal power potential for green energy. There are so many ways Fundy can make the case to compete."

Only one site from each country can go forward to the next stage of voting in the international contest, which is organized by the Swiss-based, non-profit organization, the New 7 Wonders Foundation.

If the bay does make it to the next round, it will be up against some tough competition, including Mount Everest, the Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon.

This is the second undertaking of the foundation after its successful contest in 2007 to name seven man-made wonders. Foundation director, Bernard Weber, a Canadian filmmaker, has said the primary goal of the campaign is to foster and encourage global exchange and intercultural appreciation.

While the contest has been pooh-poohed by some as unscientific and accessible only to those who can use the Internet to vote, it has generated enormous interest.

The foundation says more than 100 million votes were cast worldwide in the last competition, which produced such top man-made sites as the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and Machu Picchu in Peru. The Great Pyramid in Egypt is the only wonder from the originial list of seven ancient wonders still standing.

Other Canadian finalists in the natural wonders contest include Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland and Labrador, Percé Rock in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Long Point Sand Spit in Ontario .

McCulloch says that by the time the natural wonders contest concludes in 2011, the foundation expects more the one billion people will have participated.

She says the exposure for the bay, renowned for its high tides and rich wildlife, is priceless.

"Anytime you can say you're the best at something or the top in something, I mean it would be quite exrtraordinary for us to be able to say we are the top nature site chosen by Canadians," she says.

"That's already an accomplishment. Then to be on the international stage in this friendly competition with other international destinations of major stature like the Grand Canyon and Mount Everest - it would really authenticate the Bay of Fundy as the extraordinary natural region that it is. It gives us international exposure we could never buy."

The next stage of the contest, called the nomination stage, will continue through July 7 Then the New 7 Wonders of Nature panel of experts, under the leadership of Federico Mayor, former director-general of UNESCO, will review the top 77 nominees and choose the 21 finalists, to be announced on July 21.

Then, in the finalist stage, the 21 wonders will be put to a popular vote beginning in July, going through 2010 and into 2011.

"The response in the Maritimes has been amazing," McCulloch says.

"But we've even seen a lot of folks voting for us in Alberta. Some of those ex-pat Maritimers are voting for us instead of the Alberta site. We're very loyal and we love a challenge. We have never felt like the underdog in this contest."