Mission Statement for Agua Fria Open Space Alliance, Inc. (AFOSA)

Environmental problems are threatening every aspect of life on Earth. AFOSA is a nature conservation-driven nonprofit organization focused on understanding problems and finding solutions. AFOSA was founded 1) to study wild plants and animals occupying undeveloped open space, 2) communicate what is learned, and 3) strive to insure continued existence of healthy natural systems. We agree with Aldo Leopold that wild plants and animals must receive the same equal treatment we give to members of our own species. Without equality, wild creatures are inevitably put to uses they cannot survive. Wild creatures form ecosystems that protect soil, filter air and water, and efficiently utilize solar energy and the chemicals available in Earth surface materials. We believe that our survival depends on theirs.

Garry Rogers, President, Introduction

Since becoming President of Agua Fria Open Space Alliance (AFOSA), I have worked to develop projects that meet the organization’s goals. I have contributed books and articles about wildlife, and many blog posts on wildlife issues.

Projects

Roadside Biology Atlas
Right-of-Way Grazing Exclosures
Desert Fire History–Fifty years of post-fire Recovery
Fire Refugia

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 began focused on 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.

The organization incorporated in 2007, and in 2008 received I. R. S. recognition as a tax-exempt Arizona nonprofit charity under section 501 (c) (3) of the U. S. Tax Code. Contributions are tax deductible. The company EIN is 26-0378948 and the Arizona Corporation Commission Entity I.D. is 13379415.

AFOSA Founding Directors

Realizing that open space in the Agua Fria River basin is sensitive to regional, even global forces, AFOSA’s focus soon expanded to include broader concerns for human impacts on the organisms, plants, animals, and microorganisms that define and stabilize open space.

Some of AFOSA’s Founders and Members

The Nature Conservation Blog

AFOSA’s Board of Directors believe an important means of communication about open space is a nature-conservation blog. 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.

The blog posts also appear on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media sites. A website is being added for Substack readers.

Your thoughts and concerns for open space are welcome.

Principal Supporters:

We are grateful for support 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.

AFOSA is proud to have earned the Guidestar Platinum Transparency seal. The following image is linked to the Guidestar report.