Our mission is to conserve biodiversity, especially threatened species and ecosystems, guided by scientific evidence and local leadership.
We work closely with Fundacion Jocotoco in Ecuador, a conservation NGO founded in 1998.
More about their work can be seen here: jocotoco.org
History
Jocotoco Conservation Foundation was founded as a 501c3 in the United States in 2018 to support conservation in Ecuador, one of the most biodiverse countries in the entire world. Ecuador’s ecosystems are also some of the most imperiled, threatened by rapid deforestation.
Our initial aim was to help expand private nature reserves and to support that staff that manages those reserves. Since our founding, our scope and impact have grown dramatically. We now support regional conservation across broad landscapes stretching from lowland Chocó and Amazonian rainforests and Tumbesian dry forests, through cloud forests up both sides of the Andes, to páramos at the tops of the highest peaks. We also support conservation across the Pacific to the Galapagos and beyond. We hope to bring our collaborative model of regional conservation – guided by science, led locally – to the rest of Latin America.
Our work is inspired by Fundación Jocotoco, an Ecuadorian conservation foundation established in 1998. Fundación Jocotoco continues to be our primary partner.
STAFF AND BOARD
Jajean Rose, Director of Jocotoco US
Jajean became the Director of Jocotoco US in 2023. Before that, he was the Deputy Director of the Western New York Land Conservancy, a land trust in the Buffalo-Niagara Region of Upstate New York, for nearly 11 years. Between 2010 and 2012, he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Puebla, Mexico, working for the federal environmental agency, SEMARNAT, on conservation projects. During graduate school and directly afterwards, Jajean studied and taught at the Monteverde Institute in Costa Rica, supporting communities in their effort to protect cloud forest reserves.
Jim Muchmore, Communications Director
Jim is an avid birdwatcher and photographer. Trained in communications and design, he transitioned from a career in marketing and advertising to conservation after visiting Ecuador. Jim is the founder of Save the Chocó, a partner organization with Jocotoco working to protect and restore the Chocó forests in western Ecuador.
BOARD
Marlies Quirino, President
David Agro, Vice President and Secretary
Andrew Farnsworth, Treasurer
Molly Bartlett, Board
Robert Ridgely, Board emeritus
VOLUNTEERS
Gino Ellison, Jocotoco US Ambassador