The Centre for Natural Burial

State to get its first natural graveyard
Associated Press

When Dave Drapac tells people about his plans for a green graveyard, where they can be buried without chemicals or a coffin, many say the idea is “cool.”

“I love the idea that I can be composted” is another response, said Drapac, president of the Trust for Natural Legacies, which works to preserve and restore natural areas in the Midwest.

The trust is one of a few groups in Wisconsin planning natural graveyards.

Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee will set aside three of its 200 acres for green burials next month, possibly becoming the first in the state to do so.

Circle Cemetery, an arm of Circle Sanctuary near Barneveld, wants to expand its one-acre cremains-only cemetery to 20 acres with natural burials.

“You can pretend that your body’s going to be nice and preserved if embalmed and airtight,” Drapac said. But that doesn’t happen: “It’s not a pretty picture any way you choose.”

About eight green cemeteries or cemetery sections have been created in the United States in the past decade, Drapac said.

Interest in natural burials has increased particularly in the past two years, said James Olson, spokesman for the National Funeral Directors Association and owner of Lippert-Olson Funeral Home in Sheboygan.

In addition, many people opt for cremation, which doesn’t take up land or introduce chemicals into the ground, Olson said.

Natural burials also can save money on embalming, body preparation and a casket when the average adult funeral
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costs about $6,200, according to 2006 statistics from the National Funeral Directors Association.

But visiting someone’s green grave can be a bit more work. There will be no headstones in Forest Home Cemetery’s green section. Visitors will find loved ones with GPS devices, said Tom Kursel, cemetery president.

Hildy Feen, of Madison, joined the Trust for Natural Legacies a year and a half ago. She doesn’t want to be buried in a cemetery with sterile lawns that have been mowed and treated with pesticides, she said.

“If I’m buried, I would certainly rather be buried in a natural surrounding,” she said.