The agency must determine how historic properties might be affected by the project. This includes attending community meetings and requesting feedback from the public.

What Is an Adverse Effect?

In Section 106 review, a project is considered to adversely affect a historic property if it may alter the characteristics that qualify the property for inclusion in the National Register in a manner that would diminish the integrity of the property. Integrity is the ability of a property to convey its significance, based on its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Adverse effects can be direct or indirect. They include reasonably foreseeable impacts that may occur later in time, be farther removed in distance, or be cumulative. Typical examples of adverse effects are:

• Physical destruction or damage
• Alteration inconsistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties http://www.nps.gov/hps/TPS/standguide/index.htm
• Relocation of the property
• Change in the character of the property’s use or setting
• Introduction of incompatible visual, atmospheric, or audible elements
• Neglect and deterioration
• Transfer, lease, or sale out of federal control without adequate preservation restrictions