Dave Field - Mid-Atlantic Karst Conservancy, Inc.

• Hall Cave Preserve Manager

Dave Field began caving at the age of 15 when a high school friend pulled a book on caving from the shelves of the school library. This sparked an interest that has lasted since. During high school and college he actively caved with a group of friends in Blair County Pennsylvania, and assisted in exploring and mapping numerous caves for the Blair County Cave Survey. Dave also ventured to West Virginia often to explore the large caves there, and became an avid vertical caver. He led numerous trips into Hell Hole and Schoolhouse caves, as well as many other pits.

In 1970 and 1971 Dave traveled to Mexico with the Philadelphia Grotto to explore the mountains south of Orizaba, Provence of Veracruz, Mexico. The Grotto explored dozens of large, previous unexplored caves the first year. The second year was dedicated to pushing the Cueva de Sierra, a mostly vertical cave that was mapped to a depth of 1,500 feet.

Dave’s interest in caving lead to a career in geology. He received a BS in Earth Sciences from Penn State University, and is a licensed Professional Geologist in Pennsylvania and California. He conducted mining, oil and gas exploration in the Rocky Mountains and other parts of the world. He transitioned to environmental geology in California, and then returned to Pennsylvania to practice geology. Dave is currently Director of Geologic Services at P. Joseph Lehman Inc. Consulting Engineers, in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.

Dave’s current main interest is to develop a simple and economical method of conducting electrical resistivity surveys to detect voids in karst areas so that promising digs for new caves can be identified. He was elected to the MAKC Board of Directors in 2010 and served in that capacity until 2017, including two years as chairman. Dave continues volunteer work as the Hall Cave Preserve Manager.