AFOSA is a Tax-Exempt Nonprofit Charity

Residents of the Agua Fria River basin conceived and organized the Agua Fria Open Space Alliance (AFOSA) to protect natural open space. The organization’s founders named AFOSA after the Agua Fria River that flows south above and below ground from Glassford Hill east of Prescott, Arizona to the Gila River west of Phoenix. AFOSA is principally concerned with the 1500 square-mile upper part of the river’s watershed. There, despite small dams and reservoirs on its tributaries, the river rages wildly after summer thunderstorms, and many stretches of beautiful semi-natural riparian vegetation cover its banks. The header photo for this page covers most of the basin.

AFOSA Founding Directors

The Agua Fria River Basin is a great place to see wild animals in natural habitats. Developers are eyeing the Basin, and have ‘mega’ plans to fill it with streets and houses. Construction, air and water pollution, and invasive species are already eliminating and poisoning open space and killing off native plants and animals. Over it all looms the threat of disastrous global warming. Even without climate change, the Arizona Game and Fish Department forecasts a great decline in nature that will make the Agua Fria River Basin a dismal place to live for our grandchildren and their descendants. For now, however, we can step out our doors and behold native vegetation, birds, and insects.

The ruins of the home of King Woolsey, the Nineteenth Century settler who gave the river its English name, still stand in a field in what has become the town of Dewey-Humboldt. The ruins of prehistoric settlers are found throughout the region. Desert grassland of the lower valleys was once home to thousands of antelope and myriad other creatures. Livestock grazing and construction of roads and buildings are eliminating antelope habitat. Invasive plants and animals are spreading and replacing native species throughout the Basin. In the year 2000 only a few hundred antelope could be found, and wildlife managers expect a third of these will disappear by 2021.

The Agua Fria Open Space Alliance, Inc. (AFOSA) encourages accumulation and exchange of information about open space in the Agua Fria River Basin. Numerous public and private agencies and concerned citizens founded AFOSA in Dewey, AZ in 2006. The organization incorporated in 2007, and in 2008 received I. R. S. recognition as a tax-exempt nonprofit charity under section 501 (c) (3) of the U. S. Tax Code. Contributions are tax exempt.

AFOSA Open Space Goals

Some of AFOSA’s Founders and Members

AFOSA focuses on understanding the physical and biological components of open space, providing public education, and encouraging effective management. The organization encourages and supports individuals and organizations working to benefit plants animals and ecosystems.

The Nature Conservation Blog

AFOSA’s Board of Directors decided that the best way to achieve its goals was to develop a nature-conservation blog emphasizing wildlife and animal issues. As the blog developed, users from outside the region soon outnumbered local users. Their comments expressed open-space interests and concerns that paralleled those of the local residents. It wasn’t long before the blog began to report on national and global issues and events.

During the first years of the blog’s existence, AFOSA’s President, Garry Rogers, managed it and a personal blog that reported on the same topics. In May of 2013, the Board of Directors eliminated the duplicate effort and combined the blogs. Visit the blog here.

Request a copy of AFOSA’s history (.pdf file) if you wish to learn more:

Nonprofit Status of Agua Fria Open Space Alliance, Inc.(AFOSA)

The Agua Fria Open Space Alliance, Inc. (AFOSA) is a tax-exempt non-profit corporation under section 501 (c) (3) of the U. S. Internal Revenue Code. Our exemption EIN is: 26-0378948.

Principal Supporters:

We are grateful for support in kind from Microsoft, Inc., Adobe, Inc., Google, Inc., the U. S. Bureau of Land Management, the Town of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona, and Academic Distributing, Inc. AFOSA would not exist without the many generous contributions of funds, time, equipment, and space made by the friends of open space in the Agua Fria River Basin and elsewhere in the U. S.