Ancient cultures vs. uranium mining. You know who wins, right?

CONSERVATION

BY SYDNEY PEREIRA

@sydneyp1234

RANCH DRESSING Trump and local county commissioner (and rancher) Bruce Adams celebrate the stripping of protection for Bears Ears Monument, which includes the Valley of the Gods, right.

SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY

WE MAY BE ENTERING A GOLDEN ERA OF LOOTING and grave robbing. Hundreds of thousands of acres of land that are astounding repositories of art and artifacts from ancient cultures will be more vulnerable to vandalism, mining and coal and oil extraction after President Donald Trump slashed protections for two Utah monuments in early December. The Bears Ears National Monument will be reduced to 228,784 acres from 1.35 million, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument will be cut in half. In making the announcement, Trump said regulators “thousands of miles away” can’t care for Utah’s land the way residents do. Public lands will be for public use, he said. That “public use” apparently could now include uranium mining at Bears Ears and coal extraction at Grand Staircase-Escalante.