WHERE CAN YOU GO for a Natural Burial?

Many folks wonder where they can get a natural burial. In the UK, over 200 woodland burial sites around the country now offer people a wide selection of opportunities for a natural end, where you can be buried without embalming, in a biodegradable casket, and turn into a tree.

A small but growing number of sites are available in the US and, and while we don't have many official conservation cemeteries yet, you can make a natural start just by finding a cemetery that will accept your biodegradable casket without an outer liner or vault. Pioneer cemeteries may do this, as may private cemeteries who do not have to adhere to a corporate policy that needs vault sales for profit margins and landscape maintenance. (Be a Tree has a lot of suggestions)

No one is yet creating a comprehensive list of North American natural burial options. Forest of Memories has a good list and a great map. The Funeral Consumers Alliance has state chapters that might be able to help you. So far, the groups rely on cemeteries to self-identify, and many of the partial (hybrid) or less-than-perfect - what we'd call "transitional" in the organic world - options are still not shown there. We keep a short list in the sidebar to the right of this article, and will develop something more comprehensive in the  near future. 

If you learn of (or operate) a cemetery that offers liner-free, vault-free burials outside of the Jewish section (non-Jews are not allowed there) anywhere in the US or Canada, please let us know - and submit the link to Forest of Memories, as well.