SPANISH FORT, Ala. — The staff at 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center has issued a challenge to Baldwin County photographers to help raise the environmental education center’s national profile.

“While our (Mobile-Tensaw) Delta is a spectacular place to take pictures, we have never had a winning entry or a submission from our area,” 5 Rivers Manager Hank Burch said.

Specifically, Burch is referring to the annual National Natural Landmarks Photo Contest, and submissions must be received by June 30.

5 Rivers is one of just seven sites in Alabama designated by the National Parks Service as a National Natural Landmark.

There are 586 such properties nationwide, and the photo contest was conceived to help raise awareness about natural history and encourage conservation.

“Our Mobile-Tensaw Delta is not only one of the best examples of wetlands but is also one of the most important wetlands in the nation,” said Burch, noting the delta received its landmark designation in 1974, based on its “variety of habitat and huge diversity of animals that can be found here.”

Sites are selected, he said, because they represent the nation’s “best examples of geological and biological resources.”

Winning entries will be featured in the national program’s specially designed 50th anniversary commemorative calendar for 2012. Winning entries will be announced in September, and rules and entry forms are available online at www.nature.nps.gov.

According to the organization’s official website, some of the sites listed on the registry are well-known.

As the site states, these include the “striking, uplifted red rocks of the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the dramatic waterfall of the Great Falls of Paterson, N.J.,” but others are found farther off the beaten path, including the “parting of the waters at Two Ocean Pass deep in the Teton Wilderness outside of Jackson, Wyo., and the serene ponds and diverse birdlife at Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge in Jefferson, N.H.”