Welcome to our Neighbor Spotlight! Here, we will feature neighbors and their history, both short and long, with Overdale Park!
Say hello to Janet Wall!
One of the many jewels of Overdale!!!
If Janet ever knocks on your front door, open it! She probably wants to alert you to a noxious weed called Tansy Ragwort that she has spotted growing on your property. She is a member of the King County Noxious Weed Control Program. Tansy ragwort is potentially lethal to cows and horses. Since one plant produces 150,000 seeds, it is important to minimize flowering and spreading and must be removed.
Janet moved to the Pacific Northwest from Ohio, in 1969, to earn her Masters Degree in the Fisheries Program at UW. She moved to Overdale after retirement from the United States Foreign Fisheries Observer Program. Getting a job in a male dominated field in the 1970’s was challenging and extra hurdles were put in her way throughout the hiring process. Scoring 100% on the required exam helped her as did her calm, quiet, confident perseverance. She had to prove herself competent repeatedly and eventually found herself helping to build the capacity of the US fishing industry to catch and process their own fish with sustainable practices. As part of the Observer Program she inspected Soviet, Chinese, and Polish vessels among others.
Janet believes that owning land comes with a responsibility to understand its place in the interdependent web of life. Therefore, she devotes thousands of volunteer hours to removing invasive, non-native plants (blackberries, holly, ivy) from our Overdale Park, as well as her own 3 acres, our monument areas and the creek that runs through her property and next to the lower monument area. She restores areas by planting native plants as these are the plants that support native birds, beneficial insects and soil health. She is also a long-time member of the Issaquah River and Streams Board which works with developers on environmental impact issues.
If you see her working in our park, please give her a big THANK YOU!
We want to thank Sarah Bergdahl, our neighbor and HOA Board Member, for this exciting new addtion to our website! We’d also like to thank Louise for volunteering her time to be our first feature!