FRIENDS OF MINDO CLOUD FOREST INC

We see Northwest Pichincha province and the Choco-Andes Corridor as a model of harmonious living with the birds, the forests and an integrated landscape that´s resilient to climate change, where deforestation and the degradation of native forests has diminished significantly and at least 75% of current forests are conserved.
Where the trend of shrinking bird populations and the loss of other regional biodiversity has been reversed through the restoration of habitat to guarantee their viability, where the larger fragments of natural ecosystems are connected by biological corridors that allow for the movement of wildlife and where the local population is recognized for its strong conservation ethic and its institutions are solid, transparent and committed to sustainable development.

Web based fundraising, direct donor contacts, outreach to birds clubs, associations, Audubon chapters, scientific contributions from research performed at MCF forest reserve sites.

Thus our four main programs are mutually reinforcing and are achieving ever greater impacts by ever greater international project grant support for our Forest Restoration & Silviculture program where we monitor, study and grow native species trees in three nurseries at three altitudinal levels in our bird sanctuaries. These trees are then supplied to neighbors and communities through various models to both contribute to climate change mitigation and forest connectivity restoration.

Friends of Mindo Cloud Forest is a coordinating body and meant to have a small overhead and institutional footprint. Mindo Cloudforest Foundation on the other hand brings together experts and leaders in Ecuadorian bird conservation and birding tourism promotion. Birding tourism often functions as a driver for new conservation efforts and is an ongoing, decentralized environmental education program. Our Forest Restoration & Silviculture program has local and US staff and interns working to become a world-class innovator in our field. In the USA all support for Friends of Mindo Cloud Forest is volunteer, and in Ecuador we have 11 full-time staff, a full-time intern and several consultants working on various contracts from web implementation and communications to forestry program support and GIS capability development.

In the last six months we have performed an in-depth organizational analysis restructuring administrative and operational procedures in a new manual, new strategic planning and now an unfolding communications strategy. In spite of the current pandemic and associated crisis, in some regards our organization is stronger than ever and readying itself for a new period of strong growth and ever greater impacts in pro of our programmatic objectives.