Who is Back to Ground Conservation Cemetery?
We are a group of Eastern Iowans dedicated to land restoration and protection by creating an end-of-life option of natural burial for our community. Back to Ground is a nonprofit, partnering with a Land Trust to provide a conservation cemetery that utilizes sustainable burial practices and stewards the natural environment while nurturing healing, reflection, and sanctuary with nature.
What types of burials are permitted at Back to Ground?
Full body burials, in a simple biodegradable sheet or shroud of hemp, cotton, linen, etc. is the simplest form of natural burial. We also permit brown cardboard caskets (any decoration should be water or milk-based paints), softwood boxes or shroud boards without metals, plastics, plywood or resins meet our burial guidelines. Also, wicker, willow, seagrass and hemp baskets or anything that is not artificially altered and will break down naturally is permitted.
We also allow the burial, but not scattering, of cremated remains. The same container requirements apply as for bodies.
What is a conservation cemetery?
Conservation cemeteries utilize the simplest burial practices with the least amount of disturbance of the soil and plants at the grave sites and land overall, using minimal and biodegradable materials to shroud or contain the body. The beauty is that the decomposition of the body gives all its nutritive value to the soil, the microbes and creatures that live in it, the plants that grow from it and the animals that eat those plants.
Each person buried in a natural grave becomes part of the living land: an alive memorial of love. Burials in a conservation cemetery are the roots of protecting the land. The earth– in exchange– and enriched by the remains of our beloveds, flourishes and provides a sanctified natural world to the community of souls who come to commune with and honor their people and the land itself.
The nuts and bolts structure of a conservation cemetery is a partnership between a Land Trust as restorer and protector of the natural ecosystems and the non-profit cemetery group that sets policies and creates community programs for shared public use of the acres.
Is natural burial legal?
Indeed, yes! In every state in the US, natural burial is legal. It is the primary way that burials have been done for millenia, prior to the American Civil War when embalming came into common practice, and Undertakers and Funeral Homes began to take on what was once done by members of the family or community of the decedent.
Cemeteries make their own policies and most do require grave liners or vaults be in the grave along with a casket, but this is not in any federal or state law. These materials are for maintaining level ground for mowing purposes.
Embalming is also not a law, except in such very rare instances of communicable diseases that may live on after death, such as ebola. Some funeral homes may require embalming for open casket viewing.
What are the costs and benefits of burial at Back to Ground?
considerations
While we do not yet have all the particulars for the purchase and use of your final disposition space at Back to Ground Conservation Cemetery, we can share some insight. We anticipate the price of each space will be somewhat higher than those in a conventional cemetery.
Please consider:
The size, depth, ratio, and distance of burial plots from each other in an acre of a cemetery, that is the burial density, will be greater. Green burial plots are typically larger than conventional burial plots and are determined by terrain. These practices help allow for microbes, plants, and insects to do their work. We anticipate our burial density to be much lower than what is found in conventional cemeteries.
Spaces that are offered will be a minimum of 4 foot by 8 foot for the above reasons. Consider a traditional space is approximately 2.5 feet by 8 feet.
On-going conservation efforts required to restore, and preserve the land.
Paths and spaces for people to commune with nature will be included. We envision the cemetery will be a place for folks to visit, walk around, and engage with the natural world.
Leaving the planet a better place than we found it for our children and all future generations.