Chuchuyamba/ Soda Rock: Toward an Applied Critical Geographic Perspective on Traditional Cultural Properties (TCPS)

Abstract

Preservation of indigenous Traditional Cultural Properties (TCPs) is limited by narrow legal and procedural interpretation. First, indigenous communities (federally recognized or non-recognized) must often rely on the federal trust responsibility for site protection. Following the trust responsibility, federal agencies that hold indigenous TCPs must argue on behalf of indigenous interests for their protection. Such a structure is problematic, because federal agencies have multiple mandates to serve a broad public, despite the seniority of the tribal trust responsibility, and may not possess a full understanding of the importance of TCPs to indigenous communities. Second, courts are often loath to accept that different meanings of “preservation” exist within indigenous communities. For some indigenous people, sacred and/or storied geographies should be completely undeveloped and open only to traditional uses. For others, active engagement with these geographies by Native community members— even extractive use that may change their character— reinforces their importance and integration within the Native community. This paper approaches these issues from a particular contested TCP in the northeastern Sierra, examining case narratives, legal precedent, and interviews with stakeholders to assess how the site was ultimately left vulnerable to extractive mining despite its documented cultural importance, and how this may inform critical geographic perspectives on defining, stewarding, and protecting TCPs.