Federal officials are investigating the deaths of two desert tortoises found along the road to the Heritage Arts Foundation's Tuacahn entertainment arts complex under construction outside St. George.
The deaths are being investigated by the Department of Justice and the Fish & Wildlife Service as possible violations of the Endangered Species Act, said Robert Williams, Fish & Wildlife state director for Utah.The $18 million complex near the mouth of Snow Canyon State Park is scheduled to open next summer. The 80-acre site will have an 1,800-seat amphitheater, a 300-seat theater, a recording studio, classrooms and administrative offices.
The complex itself does not encompass habitat considered critical to the desert tortoise's survival, but the access road does.
Doug Stewart, Foundation executive director, said that on May 24 the contractor building the complex found a tortoise carcass just off the road. It had been dead for some time, and the cause was uncertain.
A week later, another dead tortoise was found. Stewart said it had been run over by a subcontractor.
"That's the only (death) we will admit to," Stewart said. "We are dismayed and regretful this thing has happened . . . because we know it was no small matter.
"We have worked vigorously to protect the tortoise. We have two checkpoint stations at the beginning and end of the road. We have watchmen stopping cars. We have a strictly enforced 20 mph speed limit, monitored with a speed gun. And we have tortoise-education programs for our subcontractors," Stewart said.
What the Foundation does not have is a permit that would cover the "incidental taking" of a desert tortoise or any protected species.
The permit specifies measures that must be taken to minimize a development's impact on the tortoise. It also would have provided legal protection for the Foundation in case a desert tortoise was killed.
Lacking a permit, the Foundation could face a fine of up to $50,000 for each dead reptile, Williams said.
Stewart said the Foundation has applied indirectly for a permit through Washington County, which has developed a Habitat Conservation Plan to protect lands vital to the desert tortoise while minimizing the impacts on private landowners.
The Fish & Wildlife Service is reviewing the plan, a first step toward the acquisition of the permit.
"It doesn't seem prudent to go through the tremendous amount of red tape to apply for a permit independently when we're expecting the county one in a couple of weeks," Stewart said.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance contends neither the Foundation nor the Justice Department has been diligent about protecting the reptile.