Suzanne Schettler
Suzanne Schettler is known as a serious and well-organized leader. For decades she has mastered nearly every California Native Plant Society (CNPS) leadership position, from state-level president and conservation leader to Santa Clara Valley chapter vice president and president, Monterey County chapter president, and Santa Cruz County chapter treasurer, secretary, conservation advocate, and member-at-large. Is she serious? Sure, but also warm, compassionate, and passionate about plants.
Growing up in Maryland, Suzanne was always fascinated by plants. At eight, she convinced her parents to give her a plot of her own on the sunny east side of the house. From her second-floor bedroom, she could observe and plan her creative garden. Even access to her plot was an adventure, requiring a scramble over a fence on the side of the house (a feat that some of us can only dream of doing now). Innovations including her personal version of edible gardening—growing vegetables and flowers together—marked her as a person ahead of her time.
Like other remarkable women, such as Julia Child and Gloria Steinem, she chose to study at Smith College in Massachusetts—a beautiful campus known for its academics, outdoor gardens, and arboretum. After graduation from Smith, Suzanne planned her flight from the nest, initially undecided between Boston and San Francisco. Luckily for us, the lure of the West won.
It should not be denied…that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led West. —Wallace Stegner
Suzanne’s degree in English opened doors to secretarial positions at Sunset magazine and Lawrence Halprin Landscape Architecture, then editorial work for a publishing company, none of which quite satisfied her aspirations or talents. She discovered the California Native Plant Society when she attended a native plant sale held by the East Bay chapter. Hurray for plant sales that draws in new members! And so, our self-taught botanist found her way back to plants, working with Gerda Isenberg at Yerba Buena Nursery near Woodside where she became a key propagator of ferns and California natives. Her time there was a nexus of favorable connections: Natalie Hopkins, the president of the Santa Clara Valley CNPS chapter recommended her for the role of vice president. Suzanne advanced to the presidency of the SCV chapter two years later, continuing the group’s field trips and lectures, and supporting conservation of serpentine grasslands, Tulare Hill and plant collection policies. During that time, she joined the first class of docents for Stanford’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, taught by Herb Dengler, a self-taught observer with keen ecological knowledge that he passed on to his class.
An opportunity to work at the University of California Hastings Natural History Reservation transported Suzanne to life and learning in Carmel Valley. She had the best boss in the world, Dr. Jim Griffin, an old-time scholar who studied whole organisms rather than today’s molecular approach. Her title was reserve steward—essentially the caretaker for 10 buildings and the surrounding 1,151 acres (it has since grown). Always well-organized, she recorded her impressive efforts: she kept the roads open and the water tank filled, repaired about a half mile of ancient water pipe, fixed the well pump, kept a fire pump on the truck running, maintained defensible space around the buildings, recorded daily weather conditions, chopped wood to heat four residences, made routine repairs on the buildings, built a concrete ford across a seasonal creek, installed research equipment and on and on… Just a bit of a hermit, Suzanne found Hastings’ isolation peaceful. She had the run of the property to explore on her days off, so she was able to add new botanical findings to Hastings’ previous 50 years of research records. She met new colleagues and friends at the Monterey Bay chapter of CNPS, participated in their conservation work, and became that chapter president. And she got her landscape contractor’s license.
During her next ingenious period, Suzanne settled in Santa Cruz County where she found friends and community among volunteers and staff at the Santa Cruz City Museum (now the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History). At that time, the museum held very successful spring wildflower shows which attracted crowds of people. Suzanne and Adrienne Harrold and others put on the wildflower shows which were wonderful—with living native plants (not just cut flowers) displayed by habitat. Eventually they added a plant sale a couple of days after the show. People could see the beautiful native flowers and then perhaps buy the plant. Admittedly, the shows and sales were a ton of work. But they produced a core of wildflower enthusiasts, including Suzanne, who became an early member of the Santa Cruz County Chapter of CNPS. She continues the conservation work of the chapter, keeping an eye on management of a preserve that was permanently set aside to protect the rare robust spineflower (Chorizanthe robusta var. robusta) as mitigation for a housing development.
Ever resourceful and independent, Suzanne established a consulting firm, Greening Associates, integrating the works of humans and nature. For decades, she led her small, dedicated crew on demanding ecological restoration projects, such as riparian corridors stripped bare by flood control projects, and transformed residential landscapes using local native plants. She often teamed with wildlife and fisheries biologists to prepare ecological plans and reports. Distance and energy were rarely issues for her; she took on projects within a four-hour drive: Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, and even farther afield. She found quarry restorations especially interesting, without power lines to block views of the sky. But those projects were also challenging where the original soil and its biologically-active microorganisms had been eradicated. Imagine taking on a huge project where one must replace missing soil and subsoil, then inoculate the parent material with natural microbes to foster soil development before reestablishing the native flora. It takes brains, energy, and perseverance to restore wildness!
Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed…We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. —Wallace Stegner
Suzanne’s goal to connect people with plants extends beyond fieldwork and restoration. She has given talks, led wildflower walks, and mentored budding botanists—eager to share her knowledge with anyone curious about California’s diverse flora. Her passion for education helps inspire a new generation of conservationists, so that the appreciation for native plants will continue to flourish. Steve McCabe (CNPS member and UCSC botanist) encouraged Suzanne toward a new route to mentoring as teaching assistant in plant systematics at the university. So, in addition to running her company, she took on the half-time position for “a change of pace”. That experience confirmed for her that the best way bone up on a subject is to teach it.
Now retired in the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains, Suzanne favors reading (for example, Wallace Stegner) and deserves time to smell the flowers…although not necessarily roses. Our protagonist might prefer the scent of fragrant Fritillaria (Fritillaria liliacea) or even a quick sniff of a fetid adder’s tongue lily (Scoliopus bigelovii) or a view of Douglas iris (Iris douglasiana) since she has a special fondness for natives in the lily and iris families. And still, she continues to contribute to the conservation conversation. In celebration of the 50th year of our county chapter, remember Suzanne Schettler’s five decades of contributions to the health of our community, nature and CNPS.