Puerto Rico's El Yunque National Forest in New Seven Wonders Campaign

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Oct. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Puerto Rico's Department of Economic Development and Commerce is urging Puerto Ricans to spread the word and vote for El Yunque to become one of the seven most impressive and unique natural attractions in the world by going online and visiting the votaporelyunque.com webpage.  Voting ends November 11th at 11:11 am.  On that same day the New7Wonders organization will announce the preliminary results of the contest.

More than 600,000 visitors enjoy the waterfalls, flora and natural beauty of El Yunque each year.  Even princes and royals have visited this rainforest in order to appreciate its unique biodiversity!

This unique biodiversity is precisely what makes this one-of-a-kind place a natural wonder.  In a very small geographic area one can find a variety of distinct ecological zones and niches, a variety that one would have to travel and even fly many miles to be able to visit in other rainforests.  This eco-diversity is what sets El Yunque apart from other rainforests including the Amazon.  

Some of the natural locations competing for a spot in the final 7 are The Amazon Rainforest in South America, the Igauzu Waterfalls located between Argentina and Brazil, and the Vesuvius Volcano in Italy, responsible for the destruction of the city of Pompey.  The campaign started back in 2007 and was created in order to select the new list natural wonders of the world.  

El Yunque was named a forest reserve in 1876 by King Alfonso XII of Spain, making it the oldest natural reserve in the Americas and the New World.  

El Yunque is home to 150 fern species and 240 tree species of which 88 are found only in Puerto Rico and of those 23 are found only in this exceptional rainforest.

El Yunque is currently one of the 28 finalists in the competition to become one of the seven most impressive and unique natural attractions in the world.

After the results are announced on November 11th, the voting process will be verified and audited once again.  Each of the final seven locations will officially become a New Natural Wonder in a ceremony where Bernard Weber, president and founder of the New7Wonders Organization, will present an engraved plaque recognizing the location as one of the final 7.  From that moment on the natural site will be confirmed as one of the New7Wonders and part of the Global Memory of the New7Wonders.  

SOURCE Puerto Rican Department of Economic Development and Commerce

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