Naomi Fraga

Naomi Suzanne Fraga (born 1979) is an American botanist who is the Director of Conservation at the California Botanic Garden and research assistant professor of botany at Claremont Graduate University. She has focused her career on the conservation, monitoring and habitat restoration of rare plants across California. She was awarded the 2021 Center for Biological Diversity E.O. Wilson Award for Outstanding Science in Biodiversity Conservation. In 2023, Fraga received the Peter Raven Award from the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. This award is given annually to a plant systematist who has made exceptional efforts at outreach to non-scientists.

Early life and education
Fraga grew up in California. She was an undergraduate student at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona where she studied biology and botany. In 2002 she wrote a senior thesis on A Short Flora of Short Canyon, Kern County,California.

Starting from 2001 she worked as a volunteer at the herbarium of the California Botanic Garden — then named "Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG)" — in Claremont, California.

She undertook her master studies in botany at the Claremont Graduate University, finishing in 2005 with a thesis on A Vascular Flora of the Owens Peak Eastern Watershed, southern Sierra, Kern County, California.

In 2015 she earned her Ph.D. with a dissertation on Phrymaceae, California Monkeyflowers.

Research and career


Fraga works as a research assistant professor at Claremont Graduate University. She is responsible for the California Seed Bank which homes billions of seeds and the world's largest collection of native plant seeds from California.

Fraga campaigned to protect Tiehm's buckwheat (Eriogonum tiehmii), which was treated by the proposed construction of a lithium mine. Tiehm's buckwheat has suffered in the changing climate of California, particularly with the diminished rainfall, excess temperatures and reduction in groundwater. When Tiehm's buckwheat becomes stressed the plants that sprout do not produce viable seeds. She also monitors and maintains the Amargosa niterwort (Nitrophila mohavensis) and contributed to the recovery of the Hidden Lake bluecurls (Trichostema austromontanum subsp. compactum).

Awards and honors

 * 2019 United States Fish and Wildlife Service Recovery Champion award
 * 2021 Center for Plant Conservation's Star Award
 * 2021 Center for Biological Diversity E.O. Wilson Award
 * 2023 American Society of Plant Taxonomists' Peter Raven Award

Selected publications