Maine Roots | TNC in Maine's 2025 Winter Newsletter - Magazine - Page 11
For This Couple, Conservation is for the Birds
Clark and Sally Burbee
It was thanks to the birds that longtime TNC Maine supporters Clark
and Sally Burbee 昀椀rst got to know about The Nature Conservancy.
Sally, who taught in the education department at the University of
New Hampshire, had a background in botany and was an avid
birdwatcher. Clark, who became an agricultural economist after
serving overseas after World War II, loved spending time with her in
nature. The couple spent weekends and vacations on the water and
on the trails near South Bristol, Maine, and hoped to move there
eventually after retirement. While exploring the area, they learned
about organizations working to conserve natural places nearby—
including TNC—and wanted to do their part to support the effort.
Clark and Sally made their 昀椀rst gift to TNC in 1987, motivated to
protect habitat for the birds Sally loved. Soon after that, they
stopped into the TNC o昀케ce while driving through Brunswick and
began getting to know the staff who worked there. Over the years,
Sally’s health declined, and she passed away in 1996 before they
were able to make Maine their full-time home. Clark made a
generous gift in her memory to conserve bird habitat—and he
started volunteering, too.
In recent years Clark saw connections to his own 昀椀eld of research
and began advising TNC on economic issues related to renewable
energy development. He has offered pro bono economic analyses
about resilience planning, energy grid development issues and
other topics in his 昀椀eld. As he puts it, “We have to marry nature to
energy, to the commercial economy. It’s going to be complex—but if
we don’t take care of nature, things are going to get worse. There
are policies and programs out there we can adopt and learn from.”
Maine State Director Kate Dempsey writes, “I’m blown away when I
look back at all the advice and analysis Clark has provided our team
over the years and multiple political administrations. His expertise
has been invaluable to our team here in Maine and to our regional
and national policy teams.”
Thank you, Clark and Sally, for your loyal support and commitment!
Illustrations © Emerson Frost
Maine Roots | Winter 2025 | 11
