Babbitt Cancels Visit To Landmark Schedule Conflicts Prevent Trip To Eye Of The Needle

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on Thursday canceled plans to personally examine vandalism to the Eye of the Needle rock formation on the Missouri River.

Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Trudie Olson released a three-sentence statement saying Babbitt’s planned trip Friday fell victim to schedule demands.

The BLM had said Babbitt would fly into Great Falls on Thursday night, breakfast in Fort Benton and travel by boat from the Coalbanks Landing to the Eye on Friday.

The statement read:

“Secretary Babbitt is deeply saddened and outraged by the senseless, malicious destruction to one of the country’s irreplaceable natural treasures. He had hoped to visit the site Friday and see the damage for himself. But the demands on a Cabinet secretary’s schedule make that impossible this week.”

Olson said she had no word on whether the trip might be rescheduled.

The Eye, a natural arch on the wild and scenic section of the Missouri River downstream from Fort Benton, has been photographed by thousands of river rafters and is featured on the cover of the current official state highway map.

The Eye was last seen intact on Saturday, May 24. Larry Cook, a trail coordinator for the Lewis and Clark Foundation, and his wife, Bonnie, discovered the damage when they led a group of 10 floaters to it during a trip on May 27.

The arch, once 10 to 11 feet tall, lost about its top 4 feet, leaving two 6-foot pillars that once formed the arch’s sides. Six or seven other pinnacles also were broken off or shoved over.