Congaree Land Trust announces new executive director
Contributed by The Congaree Land Trust

Billy Cate, newexecutive director of Congaree Land Trust

William "Billy" P. Cate has accepted the job of executive director of The Congaree Land Trust. Cate will begin work March 17, 2008, taking the position previously held by Jane Stirling Clarke. Clarke resigned her position in order to devote more time to the new family she and husband Brandon Clarke are raising.

Cate is no stranger to land conservation in the Midlands. In 2001, he worked with his siblings to protect, through a conservation easement, the family farm in Lower Richland. Since then, he has been an advocate of private, incentive- based land conservation.

Cate has served as president and board member of the Congaree Land Trust, on the Land Trust's Land Protection Committee and Opportunity Fund Committee, and as a member of the COWASEE Basin Task Force. In addition to the Congaree Land Trust, his conservation affiliations include the S.C. Forestry Association, Forest Landowner's Association, Richland County Forestry Association, S.C. Waterfowl Association, Ducks Unlimited, Coastal Conservation League, and Trout Unlimited.

Cate is the owner of Buckeye Ag Services, LLC, an agricultural and real estate services firm. Prior to that he was chairman and CEO of the Cate- - McLaurin Company in Columbia. His contributions to the business, educational, and conservation community in Columbia and South Carolina are extensive and include service as board chairman, Columbia Regional Board of First National Bank, vice chairman and past board member of Carolina National Bank, chairman of the Clemson University Forestry and Natural Resources Advisory Board, member of the Clemson University Board of Visitors, and chairman of the County Advisory Boards, South Carolina Forestry Commission.

Cate received a BS in Agricultural Economics from Clemson University in 1966 and served in the U.S. Army as an artillery officer. He and his wife of 41 years, Betsy Walker Cate, live on the family farm in Eastover with two dogs, two cats, and eight horses. They have three grown children and six grandchildren. He attends St John's Episcopal Church in Hopkins where he has served on the vestry and as finance chairman and building chairman.

The Congaree Land Trust was established in 1992 to conserve the natural and scenic lands, farms, waterways, forests, and natural areas in central South Carolina by assisting landowners with voluntary conservation in Richland, Lexington, Kershaw, Fairfield, Lee, Sumter, Calhoun, Orangeburg, Bamberg, Clarendon, and Williamsburg counties.

See related story on page 12.