This week we look back on the inspiring environmental career of Jack Clarke, our director of advocacy. Jack is retiring after 25 years in his role with Mass Audubon, where he has been an instrumental leader to staff, colleagues, and partners.
During his time at Mass Audubon, Jack helped draft and pass many of Massachusetts’ most important environmental laws, including the first-in-the-nation comprehensive ocean management law, the Massachusetts Rivers Protection Act, Community Preservation Act, and Global Warming Solutions Act, among others.
He has helped pass four environmental bonds, the latest of which was $2.2 billion and ushered in comprehensive adaptation management planning to prepare for climate change in Massachusetts.
Jack has been a champion for the protection of people and nature across Massachusetts’ land, water, and ocean resources, and has spent his career building broad, effective partnerships. Most recently, this included the Massachusetts Climate Change Adaptation Coalition, comprised of more than 50 engineers, architects, planners, and conservation and environmental organizations.
Prior to his position at Mass Audubon, Jack worked for the US Department of the Interior/National Park Service at Cape Cod National Seashore for almost a decade. He continued to keep his ranger hat proudly displayed in his office, a reminder of the benefits of getting outside and into nature that he carried each day into his work at Mass Audubon.
Following that, he served thirteen years and three governors first in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, then as Assistant Director for Coastal Zone Management. He has also received awards from the US Department of the Interior, US Environmental Protection Agency, and the City of Boston, among others.
Born in Chelsea, Jack now lives in Gloucester with his wife Fara. We hope his retirement will afford him more time for some of his favorite hobbies: surfing, sailing, SCUBA diving, and spending time with his grandchildren.
We’ll miss you Jack, but we know you’ll continue to speak up, serve on local and state committees, and mentor the next generation of climate leaders. On our end, we will carry on your legacy of fighting for environmental protections through polite, persistent, persuasion!