Wings Over the Rockies registration from April 4

The 15th Annual Wings Over the Rockies Festival is coming May 2 to 8, 2011. Festival organizers are urging those who wish to take part in the nearly 70 high-quality events planned, to register early to ensure you are not disappointed, as there are limits to the number of participants in each event.

The festival’s theme this year, “Celebrating Our Valley: Celebrating the People”, honors our natural heritage and the people who founded the festival and contribute to its success.

Much of the activity will once again, centre around Pynelogs Cultural Centre in Invermere. Events are educational and include field trips to area forests, grasslands and wetlands, plus river paddles, evening presentations and an art exhibition. Some of the events are being coordinated with Parks Canada to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canada’s national parks.

The Columbia Valley wetlands form one of the longest systems of continuous wetlands in North America. At 180 kilometres, stretching from Canal Flats to Donald, it is one of the few remaining intact portions of the Pacific flyway and is critical to migrating birds. 265 species of birds have been recorded in the wetlands to date. In 2005, it was designated a Ramsar wetland.

Registration starts on April 4th. Readers can find out more about Wings Over the Rockies and can register online at http://www.wingsovertherockies.org or by calling 250-342-2473 as of April 4th. Also, each event is posted in our events calendar by date.