Derek Rogers (Provided photo — Champlain Area Trails)

WESTPORT — Champlain Area Trails, which builds and maintains a network of hiking, snowshoeing and skiing trails in the Champlain Valley, announced it has hired a new development director.

CATS said in a press release that Derek Rogers has been hired as the group’s first director of development, charged with “raising the funds for CATS to advance the organization’s mission to save land and make hiking trails that link communities, connect people with nature, and promote economic vitality,” the press release said.

Rogers was previously with The Nature Conservancy in Long Island. He graduated from and met his wife at SUNY Plattsburgh. Rogers is also a “dedicated birder and ornithological expert.”

The new position was supported with funding from the New York State Conservation Partnership Program and New York’s Environmental Protection Fund. The NYSCPP is administered by the Land Trust Alliance, in coordination with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.