TRADITIONAL CULTURAL PROPERTIES

Questions and Answers 1. What are TCPs? 2. How are TCPs different from other cultural resources? I raditional Cultural Properties, or TCPs, have very specific meanings to those peo ple and agencies involved in cultural re source management. A TCP may be de fined as an area that is eligible for inclusion in the Na tional Register of Historic Places because of its associ ation with cultural practices or beliefs of a living com munity. TCPs are rooted in that community's history and are important in maintaining the continuing cultural identity of the community. TCPs can be districts, sites, buildings, structures, or objects, including natural areas and features. Cultural resources, which are more familiar to Federal managers, usually consist of tan gible man-made properties, such as, build ings, archeological sites, structures, ob jects, or historic districts. These same types of cultural resources may also be TCPs when cultural groups iden tify them as an important part of their community's history or as important to maintaining the cultural identity of their community. Generally, the major difference in property types between cultural resources and TCPs are that the latter may be natural areas with no evidence of human activity or intervention. Such areas may be culturally significant to a community because this area serves to reinforce its beliefs or because the area is one from which that community derives na tural resources important to the community. Contact between the Federal manager and the local community is essential in order to ascertain the location and significance of such TCPs, a