Sign up now for the third annual Spring Fling, a month-long opportunity “to have fun and get fit while raising funds for a worthy cause.”

The worthy cause: the Dungeness River Audubon Center and Railroad Bridge Park.

The Fling includes more than a dozen events intended to promote the great outdoors, the 28 acres of beautiful Dungeness River parkland and the Dungeness River Audubon Center.

Joining in the Fling is easy — sign up on your own or create a team. Then just choose an outdoor activity you enjoy — walking, biking, gardening, birding or dancing.

Don’t forget this is a fundraiser: if you sign up a sponsor, that will mean money for the center. Complete a registration form, gather pledges, and count your units (number of miles, hours or species).

Information on the Fling, including a complete calendar of events, registration forms, instructions and sample letters are at www.DungenessRiverCenter.org. Or you can pick them up at the River Center, 2151 W. Hendrickson Road in Sequim.

Awards will be handed out to those who raise the most money and special recognition is given to those participants who tally the most miles or hours, or spot the most species during Spring Fling events.

Awards will be presented at the Spring Fling Frolic, 3-5 p.m. Saturday, June 18, at the River Center in Railroad Bridge Park.

Audubon Center Director Bob Boekelheide said the Fling provides “some good outdoor activities and a good way to raise funds for the park and the center.”

Boekelheide said the idea for the Fling came naturally: “Because most of the people involved are outdoor folks, the idea was to get people outdoors and to raise some funds.”

Boekelheide notes the park is unique. Rather than a publicly funded facility, the Railroad Bridge Park and the Audubon Center are managed by a partnership of four organizations — the Dungeness River Audubon Center, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and the Olympic Peninsula and National Audubon Societies.

“Other than a few grants, there are no other taxpayer funds,” Boekelheide said.

That’s why it’s so important to have successful fundraising events, including the Spring Fling, Boekelheide said.

Boekelheide says the “very active board” also is involved in fundraising, holding an annual “board walk” from the railroad bridge to Port Angeles. Those who want to support the event can sponsor a board member. Call Boekelheide to sign up.

In the meantime, get up, get active, and help raise funds for the park.