About Us
MCF enters its 19th year of activities creating strategically located bird and biodiversity reserves while restoring forests with neighbors and communities in the region. MCF has been able to position its Bird Sanctuaries among the most diverse birding Hotspots not just in Ecuador but across the Northern Andes. We are a multidisciplinary team: Ornithologists, ecologists, conservationists, artists, a physicist, a forestry specialist, an historian and an eco-tourism entrepreneur or two, always happy to listen and seek ways to better serve the needs of the birds and nature while empowering people.
Mission
Mindo Cloudforest Foundation´s Mission is the conservation of nature and the landscapes of northwest Pichincha province and the Choco-Andes Corridor, with special emphasis in forest habitats and birds through the adoption of alternative and efficient economic development models, especially avitourism, that involve and benefit the local population and its leaders.
Current Directors
Hugo Arnal
Brian Krohnke
Juan Francisco Veintimilla
Markus Tellkamp
Members
Iain Campbell
Founding Member
Birder, conservationist, author and wildlife photographer, Iain helped co-found MCF in 2001 after moving here from his native Australia.J. Fernando Veintimilla
Founding Member
Birder, tourism entrepreneur and Rotary Club member from Quito, Juan helped co-found MCF in 2001.Paul J. Greenfield
Founding Member
Artist, birder, conservationist, co-author/illustrator of The Birds of Ecuador and numerous other publications on our avifauna; he pioneered avitourism in Ecuador.Nick Athanas
Member
Avid photographer and lead author of Birds of Western Ecuador: A Photographic Guide (2016). When not guiding for Tropical Birding, he resides in Maryland, USA.César Molina
Member
Lawyer, university professor, passionate about nature and birds.Miles McMullan
Member
Artist, naturalist and birder from Belfast, Miles has authored and illustrated many books on the Ecuadorian and Colombian avi-fauna.Gary Schiltz
Member
Software engineer, avid birder and environmentalist.Karen Schiltz
Member
Artist, avid birder and environmentalist. She´s in charge of MCF gift shop at Milpe.Elaine Simballa
Member
Originally from Michigan, Elaine has helped create and maintain our garden and arboretum at the Milpe Bird Sanctuary over the past ten years.Nick Biddle
Member
Professor of the history of Latin America, Nick hosts our affiliate 501(c)(3) organization Friends of MCF in Vermont, USA.Thibaut Convain
Member
An agronomist from France and a unique case: he was an intern for MCF in 2008, a consultant in 2016, then a member since 2017.Mindo Cloudforest Foundation gives warm gratitude to all of our donors and supporters over the years
In this case for their current support we give special thanks to CEPF
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint initiative of l'Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation.
We rely on kind supporters like you!
