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The following article touches on information that comes from the fourth module of the online Green Burial Masterclass for natural burial cemetery operators regarding major issues in ecological documentation.

Module 4:  Ecological Documentation

Dr. Billy Campbell and Kimberly Campbell, founders of Ramsey Creek Preserve, are the pioneers in ecological documentation for natural burial cemeteries. They generously share their experience, studies, plans and expertise in this field for cemetery managers who are designing burial spaces that are more than warehouses for the dead under manicured lawns.   Rather, as Holly Blue states, “natural or green cemeteries are an appropriate means for returning our dead in a truly scared manner by giving them back as food for the environment.”   

Types of eco-documentation:

Natural Resources Inventories map the existing conditions and presence of resources such as soils, waterways, plants, man-made structures and include overlay maps showing elevation and physical characteristics.

Ecological assessments focus on understanding the ecosystems that exist in the cemetery and how they interact with one another.

Forest Management Plans involve the steps toward long-term forest management goals if the cemetery is wooded. Restoration plans, fire protection, water quality, wildlife corridors, trails, access points and more are included in these plans that state certified foresters can conduct, prepare, and monitor.

Integrative Pest Management Plans help assess insect, wildlife, plant diseases and disturbances. They identify and implement the least hazardous control methods and implement prevention techniques.

Documentation of this sort helps to describe the status of the land’s overall health and wellness over time.  Sharing the story of a cemetery’s environmental restoration is a great way to increase interest among wildlife enthusiasts, attract volunteers for controlling invasives or building new trails, and perhaps qualify the cemetery for research programs and grants.

Holly Blue states that  “the soil is like the gut microbiome of the biosphere.  We as natural deathcare practitioners have the capacity to deliver our dead back into that macro-microbiome as probiotic capsules to heal our ecosystem.

By Rose Kelley
RHCC Board Member

The following article touches ever-so-briefly on information that comes from the second module of the online Green Burial Masterclass for natural burial cemetery operators regarding major issues in the legal sphere.

“Funeral law is a multilayered morass that befuddles the best of us.  There are federal, state, and local requirements, but there are also historic precedents that inform our behavior and opinions regarding issues that are essential to the ethos of natural burial.” Holly Blue Hawkins

These are the parts of the “multilayered morass”:

• The federal government does not oversee cemetery operations. However, they do claim the right to oversee funerals for employees, national park indigent deaths, federal prisoners, line of duty military, and foreign actors engaged in supporting the government.
• Our state government controls decisions regarding general cemetery health and safety, licensing and regulations, financial systems, insurance, endowments, neglect, damages, and ownership.

The Florida Department of Financial Services Division of Funeral, Cemetery and Consumer Services, headquartered in Tallahassee, regulates cemeteries, pursuant to Chapter 497, Florida Statutes.  Red Hills Community Cemetery (RHCC) is an exempt cemetery under 497.260 Florida Statutes because it is a nonprofit association cemetery. While the Division has limited authority over exempt cemeteries, there are still regulations that we have to navigate. We are so fortunate to be working with Wendy Russell Wiener and her legal team of senior associate Lauren R. Pettine and associate Henry Thompson.  WRW Legal practices regulatory deathcare industry and regulatory insurance law. They represent clients as counsel in Florida and as compliance consultants nationwide. Wendy Wiener has advised us in our beginning stages and we will continue to need her qualified, professional legal advice to guide us as we move forward. If we are really lucky, among our membership we have a few people who have a background in dealing with a lot of technical details, actually enjoy it and will take a leadership role in preparing our applications for permits and certificates.

• Our county government is where the real power is.  Everything about what can and can’t go in the ground is decided at our county level. The county will be particularly interested in our bylaws because this is the official document that sets the rules for everyone.

Tanya Marsh, the leading authority on cemetery law in the world tells us: 

“The idea that burial grounds are a unique subclass of real property is a concept that can be traced through the common law to English ecclesiastical law, Catholic canon law, and finally to the law of ancient Rome.  When human remains are intentionally placed in real property with the consent of the owner, the common law recognizes that the character of such real property has been fundamentally and perpetually transformed.”

What kind of layers of protection that we as members of RHCC build as guardians of the dead–whether by agreement/contract/deed or conservation easement– is yet to be determined.

By Rose Kelley
RHCC Board Member

The eye-opening history of burial practices in the United States and Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries still impact the funeral industry today even though these practices are antiquated and environmentally harmful. This information comes from the first module of the online Green Burial Masterclass for natural burial cemetery operators.

The Cultural and Environmental Call for Natural Burial Practices
Evidence exists that the impulse to care for our own dead dates back to our Neanderthal ancestors. Throughout most of human history midwives helped bring new life into the world, functioned as healers using natural remedies and prepared bodies for burial as “death midwives”. Burial was a simple act. A suitable spot was chosen, the earth was removed, and the body was laid to rest. In the United States, home funerals were the norm until the mid-1800s. Early 18th century homes were even built with one exterior door wider than standard to accommodate the passage of a coffin. The funeral industry as we know it today began after the Civil War when the development of embalming allowed bodies of soldiers to be transported home for burial over long distances. But even before this time, other forces were at work that complicated the simple act of returning our remains to the earth.

During the 13th century, male physicians gained prominence over women healers through accusations of witchcraft and exclusion from formalized education. As male- dominated medical schools began to demand more and more cadavers for anatomical study, grave robbing or body snatching became a lucrative practice for ”resurrectionists” who would steal recently buried corpses of the poor, criminals, and those in paupers’ graves. In 1878 Andrew Van Bibber patented the first burial safe or vault to prevent grave robbery of the well-to-do. Most families could not afford this added protection for their loved ones, however. The demand for cadavers reached such a fevered pitch that the public formed mobs that attacked medical schools, destroying property and even assaulting students and staff. At least 17 of these “anatomy riots” occurred between 1765 and 1854. Finally states began to pass “Anatomy Acts” to outlaw grave robbing, but the use of vaults continues to this day in the funeral industry. The reasons given are to support the weight of six feet of earth on a casket (a depth that only became common during the Great Plague of London in 1665) and weight of maintenance equipment, to prevent the ground from settling so the appearance of a smooth lawn can be maintained and to minimize water infiltration and deter insects.
The natural burial movement of today recognizes that embalming, vaults, lined coffins made of exotic woods, and burying a body more than 3.5 feet deep is antiquated and harmful to the environment.

Lee Webster says, “There is a surge of interest in taking back responsibility for our dead, bringing or keeping them home until disposition, and encouraging family and community participation in all the tasks associated with the funeral.” Today we look to green burial as an authentic way of caring for our dead.

By Rose Kelley
RHCC Board Member

While visiting family in Colorado, my husband Tom and I took a six hour road trip to visit with Emily Miller, founder and owner of the Colorado Burial Preserve in Florence, CO. It is the state’s first dedicated green cemetery located on 65 acres of arid land that is home to prairie grasses and wildflowers, juniper and pinyon trees and cacti galore. It has been open since 2021 and has accommodated 36 burials for individuals who wanted a wild final resting place. Emily, who came from a career in the funeral industry, was in the first cohort that participated in the Green Burial Masterclass. She told us that she felt green burial was a more authentic way to care for our dead while protecting local watersheds and the quality of native habitats.

The landscape of this cemetery is certainly unique. There are six burial gardens that have been divided into plots by a surveyor experienced in cemetery planning. Each burial garden has a slightly different landscape and vista. The cemetery land is challenged by drought, erosion, and invasive species, but each burial plot is enrolled in a Native Prairie Restoration program to seed and weed in the disturbed area until the natural balance is restored.

When we visited, we saw the beginnings of infrastructure such as hiking trails, a parking lot and the sites of a future pavilion for gatherings with a bathroom and office and a small chapel. For now there is a port-o-let, a shed for the all-important golf cart, hand tools and other items necessary for burials. Emily has the zeal exhibited by so many of us in the natural burial movement. We believe in the standards of the Green Burial Council which are designed to promote a way for our remains to give something back to the earth. I have no doubt that the Colorado Burial Preserve will continue to be an outstanding community resource not only for the dead but for the living as well.

By Rose Kelley
RHCC Board Member

I retired 11 years ago after a very satisfying 34-year career as an elementary school media specialist and teacher of gifted students. I always thought that I would pursue a degree in Women’s Studies or Native American Studies when I retired because I have always loved researching and learning new information. Little did I know that I would instead be taking an intensive course for natural burial cemetery operators called The Green Burial Masterclass designed by Holly Blue Hawkins and Lee Webster. There are twelve modules in the course: history, law, technology, ecological documentation, communication, memorialization, grave operations, environmental impact & conservation plans, green products, starting a cemetery, best business practices and ethics and critical thinking.

Over the next year, I plan to offer a tiny piece of one module per newsletter. It’s a ridiculous goal to set for myself because there are so many insights in each segment-beautiful quotes, mind-blowing new ideas about natural death care, statistics galore, and inspirational ideas that just cause me to say “wow”. I hope that you will find something of value in my newsletter columns as together we actively create a natural burial option for the Red Hills region.
“We are here to explore solutions that offer up our dead as nourishing and restorative gifts to this fragile ecosystem we call home, within a framework of skillful means that include both the human and ecologically sensitive circumstances in which we find ourselves.” – Holly Blue Hawkins

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