Karst! Means water flows freely through the landsape. Also makes for good mining (limestone).
Thus history is a series of pits, and then filling the pits in to make mounds, and meanwhile extraction on the borders (farming) until recently. A pattern we see repeated in many, many places.
This place is nothing but anthropocenic conditions, whether vineyard or landfill or road or office space or liminal spaces between.
The geologic formations of the Colorado Plateau have implications for land use in a number of ways. There are oil and mineral deposits that make some areas of federal public lands of particular interest for regulations that make it easy to lease/permit resource extractions and/or encourage calls for transfer to state hands or privatization. Additionally, this area's geologic features are part of what make it so appealing to tourists--awe-striking landscapes have encouraged the creation of many national parks and national monuments that highlight the geology (as well as the archaeological material highlighting Native American presence in/on the geologic formations), such as Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Monument Valley, Pink Cliffs, etc.