CATS’ First Summer Intern

Charlotte Staats joins Champlain Area Trails this year as the organization’s first summer intern!

Champlain Area Trails (CATS) is happy to announce that Charlotte Staats will be an intern with the organization for the summer. Charlotte will work diligently with CATS staff and volunteers to maintain trails, learn about land conservation, and understand the internal workings of a nonprofit organization.

“We are really pleased to have Charlotte working with us,” said Chris Maron, CATS executive director. “Having such a high-caliber student will increase our capacity to save land and make trails.”

Charlotte grew up in Westport, graduated from Westport Central in 2013, and is currently a sophomore at Clarkson University in Potsdam where she majors in Environmental Science & Policy and Biology. She said, “I am really looking forward to working with CATS. It’s going to be a great learning experience for me, especially when I create a management plan for the new Wildlife Passage property. It’s going to be a lot of fun!”

CATS trail marker

CATS board chair Katharine Preston said, “Charlotte is our first college intern so it will be a learning experience for us too. One of our goals is to have interns every summer and even during the year. Internships are a good way to introduce students to the land conservation and outdoor recreation field and for CATS to get input and new ideas from the next generation of non-profit leaders.”

Champlain Area Trails is a local organization whose mission is to create a network of hiking/skiing trails in New York’s Champlain Valley that links communities, connects people to nature, enhances economic vitality, and protects habitat, farmland, clean water and scenic vistas.

CATS’ Grand Hike A Great Success (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
First-ever “Grand Hike” sets off in Champlain Valley (northcountrypublicradio.org)
Champlain Area Trails Contest Winners (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Champlain Area Trails Writing Winners! (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)

Champlain Area Trails (CATS) is a non-profit organization, begun in 2009, which creates and maintains hiking and cross-country ski trails in the Champlain Valley that link communities, connect people with nature, and promote economic vitality. In its short history, CATS has developed 35 miles of trails that when added to existing trails, gets it half-way toward the long-envisioned goal of a 30-mile trail loop between Westport and Essex. CATS will extend its trails to neighboring towns and eventually connect them to trails in the Adirondack Mountains, Vermont, and Quebec. Learn more on the CATS website.