ROCKLAND – With developers knocking at Midcoast Maine’s door, Georges River Land Trust could see the timing was right for hiring its first full-time executive director to help meet the inevitable challenges ahead.

“Now’s the time to make a difference,” newly hired Executive Director Rachel Nixon said last week.

“It’s really an exciting time,” she said. “There’s so much land for sale and developers are moving quickly.”

Georges River Land Trust, founded in 1987, has grown to nearly 400 members. Its mission: to conserve and protect the natural resources and traditional character of the St. George River watershed for public benefit. So far, some 900 acres have been conserved through fee title or easements.

The watershed runs from Liberty at its northern point to Port Clyde in the south.

Besides the river, there are streams, ponds, lakes, wetlands, farms, hills, mountains, blueberry barrens and forest, and rich tidal estuary of salt marsh, clam flats and productive fishing grounds.

GRLT is also responsible for maintaining the Georges Highland Path, 35 miles of public access hiking trails from Thomaston to Frye Mountain in Montville.

Nixon, 33, is a Harpswell native and graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., where she earned her bachelor’s degree in art history. She later earned a master’s degree in elementary education from Lesley College in Cambridge, Mass.

After teaching third grade in Cambridge for two years and working for Earth Watch Institute in Watertown, Mass., for several years, she decided to return home to Maine.

After two years of study at Maine College of Art in Portland, she accepted a position at Maine Island Trails Association, located in the city. There, Nixon was responsible for the management of 130 islands and coastal properties from Portland to Machias.

At MITA, Nixon was involved in the development of a 10-year plan for future stewardship of 45 state-owned islands on the trail. During her 41/2 years there, she had a wide range of responsibilities, including fund raising, grant writing and financial management.

Nixon, who began work at GRLT on Dec. 15, quickly found a home in Rockland close to the land trust’s Main Street office.

“I just love this area,” she said, noting the job is a great way to “get involved with a specific area.”

The land trust’s focus for 2004 is an 8-mile stretch of the river from the village of Union to Warren, where it hopes to preserve riverfront property, as well as the still-remaining large tracts of open land in the hills and mountains of that area.

GRLT will “proactively identify landowners and conservation options,” she said, with an eye toward the future of farms in the watershed.

“What’s our role in working with local farmers to protect their land?” she asked, pointing to the land trust’s interest in protecting fertile land and farming traditions.

Another emphasis in the new year will be completing more work on the Georges Highland Path and preparing for its annual Garden Tour in July.

This year’s Garden Tour weekend will feature gardens at homes on the Cushing and St. George peninsulas.

“So, we’re really going to have a presence in the watershed,” she said, referring to the 2004 goals.

In partnership with Maine Natural Areas Program and others, GRLT also plans to conduct presentations to towns about mapping local resource features, which could help municipalities with land planning and comprehensive planning, which she said towns may not have time to do alone.

Pooling resources with other Maine land trusts is also becoming more important with development pressures, she said, noting, “it’s critical to understand all the projects going on around us.”