It was a popular national monument, until it was robbed to extinction

(NEXSTAR) — For decades, national parks have served to protect sites with some sort of natural or cultural significance. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always go smoothly. That’s especially true for one former site. In the late 1800s, ranchers in South Dakota’s Black Hills, near Minnekahta, stumbled upon fossilized prehistoric plants from the Cretaceous period — and lots of them. It wasn’t long before scientists from institutions nationwide caught wind of the