Gov. Jon Huntsman took a chopper out to the "Spiral Jetty" Monday as part of developing a long-term vision for protecting the Great Salt Lake.

A Canadian-based oil exploration company wants to drill near the jetty, and could begin in a few weeks in an area where it already has a lease with the state.

Update: The Dia Art Foundation, spokeswoman Katie Sonnenborn, says the foundation "is working with the state to determine a protected area around the artwork, no terms have been decided."

Protecting the spiral sculpture raises some ironies. Artist Robert Smithson, himself, was fascinated by the interaction between technology and nature. Says Dia curator Lynne Cooke:

The sense of ruined and abandoned hopes interested him. He didn’t look for beautiful places, but rather despoiled landscapes where industry and the wild overlap.

Presumably, Smithson would have loved the image of a drilling rig boring dead center through his artwork.

Finally, the "Spiral Jetty," built nearly 40 years ago, is itself an unnatural intrusion into the lake's ecosystem. In fact, state officials would not have approved Smithson's proposal today.