Naomi Fraga

Naomi is Director of Conservation Programs at the California Botanic Garden where she provides leadership to the diverse conservation activities at the Garden and works with Federal, State, local agencies, and conservation partners to conduct botanical research that informs on the ground management decisions on public lands. Naomi is broadly interested in conservation of biodiversity and enjoys spending much of her time outdoors working in the field. Naomi's personal research is centered on rarity and endemism in the California flora and a closely related group of plants in the family Phrymaceae (commonly called monkeyflowers). Through her research she hopes to provide a better understanding of species limits, and evolutionary relationships among closely related taxa.