Kevan Wilde

Kevan’s career has had strong focus on national and international cave and karst systems. His Lincoln University dissertation described New Zealand’s caves and karst resource and its preservation, conservation and management. He was deputy leader of the Foreign Affairs-supported 1987 China-NZ Speleological Exchange Expedition in Guizhou Province. He is currently co-leader of an international team for a Papua New Guinea karst and cave national park proposal.

He is a Fellow and Life Member of the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association. When Reserves Ranger Waikato-Waitomo from 1981 to 1987 he authored the National Recreational Caving Code of Ethics and co-authored the NZ Cave and Karst Management Classification System, both adopted by Lands and Survey and NZ Forest Service. He also authored the National Caves and Karst Policy and Management Guidelines and had input into corresponding management plans. Kevan has authored numerous karst and cave-related papers and achieved NZ’s first cave conservation covenant. He helped develop the Waitomo Caves Walkway, and as a tourism development consultant supported development of the Anahula Cave in Tonga.

"By 1978 I eventually left PNG and decided to settle in New Zealand, as I had fallen in love with the place when visiting on holiday. I had no idea what I could do, but I did know whatever it was, it had to be outdoors. Exploring, surveying and documenting caves and going where none had gone before had led me to realise how fragile any environment is, and how important it is to conserve them. Thus, it was a simple step to develop an awareness of and a commitment to work in conservation. A few enquiries, whilst still in PNG, had led me to Lincoln College. I also needed a job for a few months, so before I left PNG I rang the Auckland Telephone Exchange and asked the telephonist for the number of every Chief Ranger of every National Park in New Zealand. I got hold of Barrie Thomas at Mount Cook, I told him I was interested in going to Lincoln and becoming a ranger and asked him for a job. He asked me what I knew about mountains and snow and I said “Not much really, I have been living in the jungle for 11 years!” He asked me where I was ringing from and I said “Papua New Guinea!” Then he asked me what I had been doing there, and I said “Mining and caving!” And, then he said, “What else?” and I replied, “I’ve been a police officer”, not knowing that Barrie had also been an old boy in blue; and, he said, “You’ve got a job!”"