National Wildlife Week, April 4 to 10

Nova Scotians can celebrate National Wildlife Week from April 4 to 10 by participating in a hike to learn more about lichen or in a student video contest.

National Wildlife Week raises awareness about the importance of wildlife, wildlife habitat and biodiversity in Nova Scotia and throughout Canada. This year's theme, Biodiversity - dare to be different, dare to care, focuses on getting outdoors to discover Canada's biodiversity in your own backyard.

"This is a great opportunity for us to raise awareness about the wide variety of wildlife in Nova Scotia," said Natural Resources Minister John MacDonell. "The goals of the week fall in line with many wildlife conservation initiatives the department takes on year-round."

To celebrate, the Department of Natural Resources is sponsoring a video challenge for students in grades four to nine to create a short video explaining why biodiversity is important to them. Prizes will be awarded in two categories; grades four to six and grades seven to nine.

The Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife Park is hosting Hiking with Lichen in celebration of National Wildlife Week on April 10 at 1 p.m. Commonly found on trees and rocks, lichen are part-fungus, part-algae organisms. Lichen expert and Museum of Natural History research associate, Frances Anderson, will lead this 2 kilometre interpretive hike. For more information and to register, call 902-758-5316 or email <legacycentre@gov.ns.ca.>

This year is also the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity. There will be many activities that will celebrate and conserve biodiversity in Nova Scotia and around the world.

Biodiversity, the variety of life on earth, provides Nova Scotians with clean water, clean air, food and natural resources. Some of Nova Scotia's coastal bog, sand barren and salt marsh eco-systems are unique and globally important. Some species found in Nova Scotia such as the Atlantic whitefish, the wildflower, and eastern mountain avens, are hardly found anywhere else in the world.

For more than 45 years, the Canadian Wildlife Federation has partnered with federal, provincial and territorial wildlife and related agencies, to develop and implement the National Wildlife Week program in Canada.

For more information on the Biodiversity Challenge, visit http://www.gov.ns.ca/.