For 12 years from 1968, Mr Wright was a ranger at the Taiaroa Head albatross colony and one of many who, faced with growing tourist demand, helped initiate the construction of what is now known as the Westpac Royal Albatross Centre.
Today, those same visitor pressures which saw four signalmen's houses replaced with the current complex, were being repeated, he said.
The centre opened 20 years ago and yesterday more than 20 of those early volunteers and workers marked the occasion with a gathering at the centre.
Otago Peninsula Trust chairman John Jillett said space at the facility was almost at saturation point, with 160,000 visitors last year.
Of those, 46,500 toured the albatross colony.
Mr Wright recalled there were six breeding pairs of birds when he worked at the colony.
Today, there are 45.
One volunteer returning yesterday was Anna Stevens, whose late husband was a signalman and who lived at Taiaroa Head for 12 years.
From 1972 to 1976 she liaised with the Government Tourist Bureau and organised guides to take tours of the albatross colony.
"I considered them special, their size and their flight."
