Three North American sites among 28 finalists in New 7 Wonders of Nature contest

Arizona's Grand Canyon is one of three North American finalists in the New 7 Wonders of Nature contest.

Three North American destinations are among the 28 finalists in the New 7 Wonders of Nature competition. These are the Grand Canyon in the United States, the Bay of Fundy in Canada, and the El Yunque National Rain Forest in Puerto Rico.

This contest is a follow-up to the New 7 Wonders of the World, in which 100 million people voted in 2007 for the seven most spectacular man-made structures on the planet. That list was meant to provide a contemporary replacement for the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, of which the Egyptian Pyramids are the only survivor.

The first contest was so successful that the New7Wonders organization devised a new campaign, this one to honor the most stunning natural sights in the world. It began with a list of 440 suggested locations, which was whittled down to 77 in a previous round of voting and then to 28 finalists by a panel of experts. The last decision is being left up to voters worldwide, in balloting that will last for more than a year. The seven winners will be announced sometime in 2011. If you'd like to vote, you can do so at the New7Wonders website.

The 28 finalists represent all regions of the world and include such sites as the Amazon River of South America, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, the Dead Sea of the Middle East, Table Mountain of South Africa, and the Matterhorn of Switzerland.

Of the three North American finalists, the Grand Canyon in Arizona is a 277-mile long gorge in the Earth that was created over millions of years as the Colorado River cut channels into the rock. The canyon stretches for 18 miles from rim to rim at its greatest width and has been a national park since 1919. It is one of the most popular tourist sites in the United States and attracts five million visitors a year from throughout the world.

The Bay of Fundy is on the northeast coast of North America and lies between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The bay is known for its unique coastal rock formations and the highest tides on the planet. In this 170-mile long bay, about 100 billion tons of seawater flows in and out daily. This results in a diverse marine ecosystem to go along with a distinctive landscape.

The El Yunque Rain Forest (formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest) stretches across 28,000 acres and receives more than 200 inches of rain per year. As Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, El Yunque is the only rain forest within the U.S. National Forest System. The area is known for its biodiversity and is home to more 200 species of trees.

 Photo credit: Caaz via Wikimedia Commons.