Mr. Copeland has been actively working in the Four Corners and the western United States for 30 years. He received his M.A. in 1986 from Colorado State University . He has worked in private contracting as well as for the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Navajo Nation, and for the past 17 years for the Bureau of Land Management as the Senior Archaeologist. He occupies much of his working time with the documentation and protection of important archaeological sites in a highly developed natural gas field in northwest New Mexico . He has published several articles on Navajo period rock art.

The Largo and Gobernador Canyons in northwest New Mexico contain a vast array of petroglyph and pictograph imagery dating over thousands of years. Best known are panels depicting ceremonial images created during the 15 th – 18 th century by the Diné and others. Although some of these images were known even a hundred years ago, most attracted little attention until the latter half of the 20 th century. The full value of the artwork has been brought to light by a combined effort for over 40 years by professional archaeologist and devoted avocationalist alike. This effort has not only brought a better understanding of the cultural dynamics taking place in Dinétah, but it has also brought forth management challenges in balancing the needs of protection and public appreciation and visitation. This presentation will address some of those challenges and the subsequent successes and failures.