Katherine Wells is a mixed-media artist who is the founder and chair of the Vecinos del Rio Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project. In 1992, she purchased a large area of petroglyphs in Northern New Mexico . She has given the 156-acre site that has about 6,000 petroglyphs to The Archaeological Conservancy. In 2005, she was chosen for the Conservation and Preservation Award by the American Rock Art Research Association.

Vecinos Del Rio, founded in 1993, is a community organization dedicated to preserving the culture and traditions and to sustaining and enriching the quality of life in the northern Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. Creating unique and vibrant educational opportunities has been a primary focus of the organization's projects. The Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project was envisioned in 2001 to protect the petroglyphs and the natural surroundings which provide their context. Volunteers have systematically recorded 1000 acres of the 36 square mile Mesa Prieta that runs north from Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo) to Velarde along the Rio Grande . Most of the mesa is privately owned and landowner and community education is a priority. The project's seven year-old Summer Youth Internship Program teaches youth from local pueblos and villages how to record the petroglyphs and adult volunteers work with them in the field for two weeks in the summer. Their petroglyph recording documentation becomes part of permanent archives shared with landowners, Ohkay Owingeh, Vecinos Del Rio, and the New Mexico Archaeological Records Management Section. Additionally, a school curriculum, “Discovering the Story of Mesa Prieta”, has been developed and is being taught in local schools with 4 th through 9 th grades. Experiential activities provide skill building, service learning, and bonding to caring adults, healthy peers, and community. Connections are created between youth and their cultural heritage through relationships with their current and ancestral landscape. Our perspective is not exclusively academic. Outcomes are grounded in community values: sense of heritage and pride, obligation of stewardship, and recognition of responsibility. Land use ethics, archaeological and cultural preservation, environmental literacy, and outdoor competence are integral components.