CALIFORNIA—We are very pleased to announce that Pacific Southwest Research Station’s Dr. Frank Lake has been presented with the 2021 Association for Temperate Agroforestry’s award for research. 

The AFTA awards support future programs and continued interest in agroforestry practices. The Outreach and Education, Research, Early Career, and Practitioner or Producer awards are granted biennially.

Lake is being recognized for making extraordinary accomplishments in the field of agroforestry research. The criteria for this award are as follows:

• Scope and innovation of agroforestry research in field and area of emphasis
• Impact clearly demonstrates influence on the theoretical and/or empirical understand of agroforestry
• Effectiveness of efforts to translate research for impacts on people, practices and policy

Lake met these criteria with his diverse work in agroforestry stewardship practices of indigenous and tribal people in the Pacific Northwest/Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion. His research and collaborations around land management solutions contributes to healthier forests, resilient landscapes, and tribal communities. Lake has published extensively on the role of fire and ethnobotany in managing indigenous agroforestry systems that support ecocultural resources such as traditional foods, medicines and basket weaving materials. 

The committee members really liked Lake’s work, which cuts across multiple disciplines such as Traditional Ecological Knowledge and ecological restoration in addition to agroforestry. There is also an important outreach/tech transfer element to his work. Through this work he has become a well-known figure in the agroforestry world, particularly where it intersects with traditional ecological knowledge and tribal stewardship practices.

Lake is quick to point out that this award and recognition is because of collaborative efforts with his colleagues. He said, “I appreciate what you bring to our research, increasing my knowledge and the work with tribes-indigenous communities on agroforestry/landscape restoration strategies. I would not be where I am at without you and your investment in me. With lots of appreciation and gratitude.”

When hearing of this recognition, Lake articulated, “As a research scientist and tribal community member—I appreciate the growing acknowledgement and recognition of tribal agroforestry practices, the research and related efforts for supporting the adaptation of traditional methods in modern applications to achieve sustainable production of food and fiber resources that benefit the environment and human communities.”

We congratulate Dr. Lake on this esteemed AFTA recognition and thank him for his many contributions to the advancement of agroforestry.