The Centre for Natural Burial

Inauguration Scheduled for Saturday, January 31

Green Burial Council Exec, others to speak at Moles Greenacres Memorial Park in Ferndale, WA
Ferndale, WA — January 23, 2009 — Moles Family Funeral Homes and Greenacres Memorial
Park, Whatcom County’s family-owned provider of funeral services for four generations, is announcing the
inauguration of The Meadow, Western Washington’s first natural burial ground. “Green burial,” a practice
growing in popularity in recent years, is a natural process, in a natural environment, that is dedicated to
burying the deceased free of traditional chemicals and non-biodegradable materials often associated with
burial practices.

An open house, with a national speaker, tours, and refreshments, will take place at 2:00 PM at Moles
Greenacres in Ferndale on Saturday, January 31 to commemorate the opening of this new, natural burial
ground.

“We are honored to offer our community a natural setting that is not only respectful and serene, but is also
approved by the Green Burial Council and so many who share our value of environmental stewardship,”
said John Moles, fourth generation owner and president of Moles Family Funeral Homes, Crematory and
Greenacres Memorial Park. “Our overriding mission is ‘Caring for all families as we would our own,’ and I
cannot imagine a better way to serve the needs of one of the fastest growing segments of the families we
serve than through The Meadow at Greenacres.”

Joe Sehee, founder and executive director for the Green Burial Council, will be the event’s featured
speaker. Sehee is a recognized expert on the topic of green burial and established the Green Burial Council
in 2005 as a nonprofit organization to encourage sustainability in the death-care industry.
The Meadow is Western Washington’s first setting that meets all requirements of the Green Burial Council
for becoming certified as a natural burial ground.

“Greenacres has become a role model for green cemeteries in the United States,” said Sehee. “Moles has
done everything we have asked and more to show a commitment to a new ethic rooted in environmental
stewardship.”

Green Burial standards include the requirement to use only biodegradable burial shrouds or containers,
excavation techniques and technology that minimizes impacts on surrounding land and native plants, to
avoid the use of any formaldehyde-based embalming fluids, to avoid introducing any non-native plants in
the area, and to develop a deed restriction to prevent the cemetery from accommodating conventional burial
in the future. In addition, certified natural burial grounds are required to establish an endowment fund
whereby four percent of all burial sales are set aside to ensure the long-term maintenance of the land and its
trail system.

In an effort to offer local, sustainably produced caskets, Moles Family Funeral Homes is partnering with
local businesses such as The Casket Makers at Lummi and Smith & Vallee Woodworks.
“We’ve been talking with Moles about partnering together to offer green burial caskets for about two years
now,” said Wesley Smith, co-founder of Smith & Vallee Woodworks, a Deming-based company that mills
sustainably harvested trees into high-quality, handcrafted wood products. “One of the benefits of this
partnership is that the caskets we offer are harvested right here in Whatcom County. The whole premise of
this partnership is to keep everything local. The trees we use are so close we can actually hear them fall.”
Smith & Vallee’s green burial caskets are made by hand and are completely non-toxic and biodegradable.
An example of Smith & Vallee’s green burial caskets will be on-hand for the January 31 open-house event.
“A lot of people, particularly in this region, see the value of creating a unique place that will restore and
preserve the natural ecosystem both in terms of the grounds and what goes in them,” said Moles
Cemeterian Brian Flowers, who joined Moles to help bring green burial to Whatcom County. “We are
pleased with the local partnerships we have been able to forge to help make this a reality.”

In addition to local craftsmen, local consultants were used to assess the grounds. Before becoming certified
as a natural burial ground, a biological evaluation of the area must be conducted in order to ensure that no
plant or animal life will be disrupted as a result of creating the burial ground. Northwest Ecological
Services, an environmental consulting firm, completed a biological assessment for The Meadow this past
December.

More information on Moles’ natural burial services or the January 31 open house, including a schedule of
the event, can be obtained by contacting Moles Greenacres Memorial Park at (360) 384-3401, or by visiting
www.MolesFamilyFuneralHome.com.
About Mole s Family Fune ral Home s

Serving families from four Whatcom County facilities in Ferndale, Lynden, Bellingham’s Bayview Chapel
and Greenacres Funeral Home & Memorial Park, Moles provides a range of funeral, cremation, cemetery
and grief support services for those dealing with the death of a loved one. For more information, please
visit www.MolesFamilyFuneralHomes.com.

Additional information on Joe Sehee and the Green Burial Society
In addition to instituting the nation’s first certifiable standards for cemeteries, funeral providers and
cremations facilities through the Green Burial Council, Sehee works as a consultant to bring together land
trusts, park service agencies, open-space districts and disposition companies for the purpose of permanently
protecting endangered landscapes throughout the U.S. More information on the Green Burial Council and
its mission can be found online at www.GreenBurialCouncil.org.