Friend of the Month: Paula Shadle

Meet Paula J. Shadle, Ph.D., a longtime donor and Friend of Sausal Creek. Paula has been part of the FOSC community since moving to the Dimond District in 2013. She shared with us stories of liberating her yard from concrete, guiding teen volunteers along the creek, and why she chooses to invest in her local watershed. Join Paula in supporting our work here.

FOSC: What is your connection to the Sausal Creek Watershed?

Paula: I have lived in the Dimond since 2013, and take long walks through the neighborhood. It is wonderful to have the park just nearby. I love to walk by the children on the play structure and then check out what the native plants along the creek are doing. I like to look for the birds, butterflies, and new flowers along the way – always learning their names, both common and Latin. (My undergrad degree was in zoology, so I love Latin names, but did not know much about plant families)

FOSC: Do you have a favorite memory related to the watershed?

Paula: I was helping five teens with removal of invasive Himalayan blackberry and ivy. My main job was to point out the invasives as opposed to the native blackberry, and keep encouraging these young volunteers. They were Oaklanders – each one spoke a different language at home. I was able to say ‘thank you’ to each one in their language—this is a hobby of mine. And I helped one girl who said her clippers did not work. She did not know how to open them. Once that was solved, she was my most enthusiastic volunteer! I loved the fact that FOSC was helping youngsters get introduced to the watershed in this way.

FOSC: We understand you have a stunning native plant garden at home. Can you share a bit about the process of creating that extension of native habitat around your home?

Paula: In November 2013, I moved into my home on Rhoda Avenue. The yard was buried below concrete – old, cracked and stained – and I am a gardener. I had it liberated, section by section, and began to plant. I added gravel and topsoil and manure to get it started, scattered native seeds from the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, and told the plants it was their job to get through the clay. I had to use bathwater the first summer, as it was a drought. I opened up the center of the driveway, then the street strip, then the patio, to let the water find its way down into the soil.

Before the soil was liberated from the concrete.

As soon as I planted buckwheats and ceanothus and manzanita, native bees and

insects found my garden. The kids stopped by to look at it and I lent them my book (written by Gordon Frankie) about native bees. They’d have to return the book and tell me which bee is their favorite. So far the teddy bear bee is winning. I planted milkweed and Dutchman’s pipevine (Aristolochia). Still hoping for pipevine butterflies, but they have not found me yet. The monarchs found me quickly.

Finally I got around to the patio. One of FOSC’s founders, Michael Thilgen of Four Dimensions Landscape, helped me with the basic design, the demolition, and placing the stepping stones. Then Covid hit – and my budget was done anyway. So I took his general plan, my list of native plants, and planted it all within that first year. My Covid garden is now 6 years old and flourishing. Best of all, I had a completely blank slate to begin with – and no ivy, lawn, or anything in my way. I do not have a sprinkler system as it is a dry garden. I admit to doing some watering to help it look good during the hot season!

Paula's garden now.

FOSC: What drew you to supporting FOSC?

Paula: I attended some FOSC meetings – a lecture about the shorebirds was excellent – and joined FOSC as a passive member. As time went on, I went to events in the watershed, helped a bit in the native plant nursery, and watched as the creek was opened up to the air after being culverted for decades. What a wonderful project, and how beautiful it is now! As a retired scientist who remembers when our protests got DDT banned, I wanted to give back. And I believe in working locally. I find FOSC is a worthy cause. Well run, great ideas, open to neighbors’ inputs, and making Oakland better. And I get to meet great people. Why wouldn’t I contribute?

FOSC: What does it mean to you personally to invest in FOSC and a place you care about?

Paula: These are dark times and too many people feel helpless to stop the onslaught of climate change, habitat destruction, and pollution. By investing in my local watershed and in FOSC, I am standing up and resisting in my own small way. (I also plant a butterfly garden).

FOSC: Is there a particular accomplishment, project, or space that stands out to you? 

Paula: The daylighting of the Creek [in Dimond Park] is my current favorite. And I hope to see it expanded to further reaches of Sausal Creek.

FOSC: What gives you hope about the future of our watershed?

Paula: There is always hope for something. I feel hope when I see people like Michael [Thilgen] educate a group of Oaklanders about native plants and the watershed. I feel happy when my suggestion to a teen to ‘check out Dimond Park’ gets them to go to a place they have never seen, even though they live right here. I take Eduardo Galeano’s quote to heart: “Many little people, in little places, doing little things, can change the world.”