FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                   ENR
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1994                                    (202) 616-2765
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888

        HERITAGE ARTS FOUNDATION AGREES TO PROTECT DESERT TORTOISES

     An agreement announced today clears the way for the Heritage
Arts Foundation to proceed with construction of the Tuacahan
School and Performing Arts Center near St. George, Utah.  As part
of the civil settlement, the foundation will pay restitution for
desert tortoises accidentally killed on an access road to the
construction site, take measures to avoid further kills, and
apply for an Endangered Species Act incidental take permit.
     The Department of Justice announced the settlement under
which the foundation will ensure that, in the future, the
construction and operation of the center and access road do not
adversely impact the desert tortoise.  The foundation will pay
$20,000 in restitution for the two desert tortoises killed
accidentally by vehicles using an access road that runs through
desert tortoise habitat to the construction site.
     The desert tortoise was listed as a threatened species in
1989 under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).  It is
illegal to "take" animals on the list, but there are provisions
that allow for incidental take if a permit which includes a
habitat conservation plan has been granted by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
     Washington County, where the Heritage Arts Foundation
project is located, has been working on a habitat conservation
plan (HCP) which would qualify the county for an incidental take
permit.  However, the process is not complete and the county has
not yet received a permit.
     Generally, an approved HCP strikes a balance between the
needs of the listed species for survival and the desires of a
community to develop an area.
     Since the Foundation did not have a permit of its own and
chose to begin construction prior to Washington County obtaining
a Section 10 permit, the killing of the two desert tortoises
violated the ESA.  However, the settlement filed today by the
Department of Justice on behalf of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service resolves these claims, which were raised in a complaint
filed simultaneously in the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake
City, Utah.
     "We are pleased to have worked out an agreement with the
Foundation that advances both national goals of building a
cultural center in southwestern Utah and protecting endangered
species," said Lois Schiffer, Acting Assistant Attorney General
for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division.
     George T. Frampton, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Interior
for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, said, "This Administration's
policy is to use the flexibility in the Endangered Species Act to
resolve issues such as this.  We are committed to working out
solutions when people are willing to sit down and try to achieve
an agreement."
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