About the Crossbill Guides Foundation

The Crossbill Guides Foundation (founded in 2004) aims to increase public involvement in nature conservation by communicating the values of nature to a large audience. It is a non-profit organsation based in the Netherlands and working at a European scale. Using recent insights in communication strategies, the foundation focuses on ecotourism as a means to connect people with nature conservation.

Why communicate nature values?

Without ongoing public support, nature conservation cannot fulfil its important task. Therefore, emphasis is needed on bridging the gap between conservation experts and the community at large. Public support depends on sharing the values of nature with people, on giving insight into the workings of nature and on enthusing people to go out and enjoy nature for themselves. 

Crossbill Guides and the environment

Obviously, environmentally sound entrepreneurship is at the very base of our organisation. Apart from our goals, which aim to involve people in nature conservation, the foundation takes the following measures to minimise its impact on the environment.

Travel

Travelling consumes energy which is not environmentally friendly. For the production of our guides we obviously have to travel a lot. We minimise our impact on the environment by travelling overland. Only when train, bus or car takes more than a full day, we take a plane. During our stays, we minimise the use of water and energy, and live by the same guidelines about proper conduct in nature that we ask our readers to follow.

Tourists

On location, the impact of tourism on the environment can vary between considerable to completely harmless. Yet in our experience, information on how to behave in the field is often either a well-kept secret or does not go much further than commonplaces such as ‘be quiet’ or ‘do not drop litter’. We therefore added a standard element to our guidebooks, providing a number of recommendations on how to behave when visiting an area. This information is often gathered in association with local environmental organisations.
We also always seek consent with our local partners and experts in our choice of whether to adopt a certain route, area or observation tip, or to leave it out of the guidebook because it may disturb nature or local residents.
This being said, there are always issues in which one may argue whether walking a certain trail or searching for a particular species is acceptable. If you believe that, in spite of our scrutiny, we should have left out a certain tip or trail, please inform us and we will re-evaluate.

Get involved. Support the Crossbill Guides Foundation

The Crossbill Guides Foundation is a non-profit organisation and can only function thanks to the voluntary labour of its participants. We are not sponsored by any private or governmental organisation and since making qualitatively good guidebooks is costly, we are always in serious need of support. Donations are greatly appreciated.

Rabobank 102850569 (The Netherlands)
IBAN NL40 RABO 0102850569
BIC: RABONL2U
(BIC for non-dutch transfers)

Chamber of Commerce: 09147061
VAT / BTW Number: NL 8144.62.522.B01

If you prefer sending a cheque, the address is:

Crossbill Guides Foundation
Radarpad 24
6816 TP Arnhem
The Netherlands

If you have any suggestions or a particular interest in a specific area and wish to become involved in producing a Crossbill guide, please contact us at the above address.