Dia's 'buffer' approach to preserving Spiral Jetty

MAN's series on preserving Spiral Jetty
Part One: The future of Spiral Jetty.
Part Two: What's happening to the Great Salt Lake?
Part Three: Spiral Jetty, the Great Salt Lake and Dia
Part Four: Dia's 'buffer' approach to preserving Spiral Jetty
Part Five: The next step at GSL: Coalition-building, funding
Postscript: Spiral Jetty: Is federal protection a useful option?

Over the spring and summer, as Dia formulated what to do to preserve Spiral Jetty, it looked back to what it had done with other earthworks in its care, notably Walter De Maria's Lightning Field. For decades -- practically since the creation of the work -- Dia has pursued a 'buffer' strategy by which it bought up ranchland (or conservation easements) around Lightning Field. [Photo of aerial view of Rozel Point.]

Informed by that experience, in March Dia officials approached the state of Utah with a similar plan in mind. "The first step that we asked that the state to take was that it conduct a viewshed analysis on the actual area," Dia deputy director Laura Raicovich told me. "They're working on that, and we should have the results of that literally any moment. Once we have that in hand, we can do an analysis on our part of both the viewshed impact and possible geophysical impact on the Jetty from oil drilling. This proposed [Pearl Montana] test-drilling sites are only, in all likelihood, the first of other attempts. It's not just about defeating this set of proposals, but dealing with the future."

Several potential Dia allies think it's an idea with potential. Barbara Pahl, the mountains/plains director for the National Trust for Historic Preservation says that NTHP has worked with industry to donate leases to conservation groups. In 2002 the Anschutz Corporation donated some Montana drilling leases to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, effectively saving a canyon important to American Indians.

I asked Lynn de Freitas, the executive director of Friends of Great Salt Lake, if she thought creating a buffer around the Jetty, perhaps by Dia controlling oil leases, was an effective approach.

"Yes, it could create a precedent of sorts, if indeed [the state allows] that precedent to be created at all," de Freitas said. "It's a great idea. Those are the kinds of leveraging measures that can put the conservation community's playing cards in the game. If the state really is looking for some sort of economic livelihood, and for the sake of protecting something that is really for the greater good, then why wouldn't they take a smaller value in return for the lease potential. You've got a player, you've got an interested party that can pay and isn't that great because it's really a win-win." [Photo of Great Salt Lake Minerals Co. evaporation ponds in Clyman Bay. GSLM has proposed doubling the size of these ponds. The expansion would be roughly north and east of the existing ponds.]

But would the approach go far enough toward preserving the Jetty? Buying up leases would address one issue -- drilling, rigs and potential oil leaks or spills -- but it doesn't seem to address other Great Salt Lake issues that could potentially impact the Jetty, such as the GSL's mercury level or the impact evaporation ponds could have on the ecology of Clyman Bay.

"I think that's absolutely right," de Freitas said. "The interesting kind of conundrum here for Dia, as I see it, is the integration of the ecosystem into the preservation plan for Spiral Jetty."

Tomorrow: How the Pearl Montana proposal and how it might impact Spiral Jetty changed everything in the Great Salt Lake, and what that means for the future.