Humboldt’s first conservation cemetery clears major milestone
Arcata resident Michael Furniss has spent a lot of time thinking about a subject many people try to avoid: What happens after one dies.
For decades, the wildland soil scientist has carried a vision of how he wants to be buried — laid directly into the ground at the roots of a tree, allowing his body to nourish the soil and be absorbed into the surrounding plant life.
While he explored different natural burial options over the years, Furniss says he never found one that quite fit the image that came to him one day as he watched rainwater filter into the earth in a wooded area of the University of California Berkeley campus during graduate school.
Then, life intervened. And, busy with his research career, time passed. Still, the aspiration he’s since trademarked as “entreement,” rather than interment, stayed with him.
Now retired but teaching classes at Cal Poly Humboldt, Furniss founded the nonprofit Sacred Groves with the goal of bringing a green cemetery to Humboldt County. And, with more people choosing to set aside modern end-of-life trappings for environmentally friendly arrangements, he began to coalesce a broad base of support for creating a place where a person’s last act can be one of giving back to nature.
With the Humboldt County Planning Commission unanimously approving Sacred Groves’ plans for a dedicated conservation cemetery on 44-acres of private land in Kneeland last month, he’s now close to attaining what he envisioned so long ago.
During his presentation at the meeting, Furniss touched on his “origin story” of interest in natural burial since his 20s before explaining how the basic elements of the practice are simple.
“It involves interning an unembalmed body in a simple biodegradable shroud or casket in a relatively shallow grave — 3 to 4 feet deep — with no concrete vaults or plastic liners to promote aerobic decomposition,” he told the commission.
In collaboration with his “land partner and conservationist luminary” Eric Almquist, Furniss said, Sacred Groves was now ready to bring that option to the region, describing it as a project “that could really serve our community and those wishing for this lovely form of final disposition.”
Furnis noted the nonprofit has “an active board of directors” — that ranges from local physicians and ecologists to financiers and tech executives. And, he said, he’s been working with experts in natural burial circles who have been advising them on the plans.
Sacred Groves will adhere to what’s known as conservational burial best practices, he added, and is in the process of receiving certification from the national Green Burial Council, which will include “very strict standards for how we operate.”
Sacred Groves Executive Director Michael Furniss
“It is a really growing and exciting movement.”
“It is a really growing and exciting movement,” he said, adding a conservation cemetery is the highest tier in the green burial realm.
Those take three main forms, according to the GBC. There’s what’s known as a hybrid cemetery, which is a conventional cemetery that “offers the essential aspects of natural burial” — including not requiring vaults or liners inside the plot — and accepting “any kind of eco-friendly, biodegradable burial containers.”
Natural burial grounds are, as the name implies, “dedicated in full to sustainable practices,” with protocols to conserve energy and minimize waste. No chemicals, vaults or liners are allowed, while markers must be made of native stone and burial containers are required to be made from natural materials.
Conservation sites are an extension of natural burial grounds, but “established in partnership with a conservation organization” with a “conservation management plan that upholds best practices and provides perpetual protection of the land.”
Included in those best practices, Furniss said, Sacred Groves plans to restore the oak savannahs that once dotted the landscape and set aside funds for additional conservation work.
“People want and need this option,” he said. “We know what we are doing in terms of establishing and being able to operate this facility.”
Among those voicing support was Almquist, who told commissioners how he and his wife began purchasing land in Kneeland back in 2008 and over the years added to the now sprawling ranch of some 550 acres.
“I just thought when this was first proposed that it seemed like it aligned so well with our goal, which was always, from the onset of our interest there, to get a conservation easement on this parcel, which we are now in the process of with North Coast Land Trust,” Almquist said, adding that will hopefully be finalized this year.
Including a green cemetery on a portion of the land, he noted, “just kind of locks it down, just assures that this is going to be a conservation parcel basically forever.”
While interest is growing in finding a gentler path at life’s end, green or natural burial is by no means a new concept. Instead, it’s a return to the rituals from time immemorial that many cultures and religions continue to embrace.
Speaking to that lineage, Marc Daniels, owner of Ferndale’s Mind’s Eye, recounted his experiences while working for decades in small Native villages on the Pribilof Islands in Alaska, where he’s seen the practice firsthand many times.
Marc Daniels, owner of Ferndale’s Mind’s Eye
“When someone passes away in the community, it’s the family and the community that prepare the deceased, build the casket, dig the grave, care for the person, and that heals a community.”
“When someone passes away in the community, it’s the family and the community that prepare the deceased, build the casket, dig the grave, care for the person, and that heals a community,” he said.
Having a similar opportunity here in Humboldt, Daniels said, would be “wonderful.”
Jennifer Wheeler, a member of the nonprofit’s advisory board, echoed similar thoughts, saying she wants to be buried in the most natural way possible.
Being able to choose a setting like Sacred Groves, she said, means her children and grandchildren will be able to visit her final resting place while surrounded by nature, allowing them to find peace and communion in “an increasingly disorderly world.”
“In that way, I can continue to be a mother for them and play a small ecological role for the soil organisms, plants and wildlife,” Wheeler said, adding Sacred Groves is a “vital option that should be provided.”
Commissioners voiced overwhelming support for the cemetery, with Chair Iver Skavdal describing it as one of the “most intriguing topics” he’s seen during his time on the board.
But several raised concerns about the possibility of animals desecrating graves due to the shallow depth — done because the soil biota integral to bringing about the “dust-to-dust” process is most active in the upper layers of the earth.
Furniss noted this was a subject that often “comes up” and said he’s talked to other green burial sites, including at the Trinidad Cemetery, where the practice is allowed by special request but spaces there are extremely limited.
The overarching consensus from those on the ground, he said, is “there was no evidence whatsoever of that ever happening in the U.S.,” And, he added, that was the last thing anyone involved would want.
After some back and forth, the board agreed in the end to require a minimum cover of 18 inches and for Sacred Groves to enact protocols in its management plan on what to do if such a disturbance were to take place.
With the permit now secured, Furniss said in a later interview with the Journal, attention is turning to wrapping up the final details. As the first new cemetery to be proposed locally in nearly 100 years, the process was “a good learning experience” for all involved, he said.
The 44-acres of the land — held in an Almquist family trust — is under a 99-year renewable lease to Sacred Groves, he said, and the conservation easement now in the final stages will include a cemetery envelope, “with special protections.”
While pricing for the memorial groves is still being set, Furniss said the goal is to make it “as affordable as possible,” while still allowing Sacred Groves to bring in enough to cover expenses.
Many people shy away from the topic of green burial when he first brings it up, Furniss said, often asking to pivot to another subject, even the ever-fraught topic of politics
“Then, once you start talking about it, they get fascinated,” he said.
In addition to offering natural burials, Sacred Groves will also be accepting ashes, according to Furniss, with human composting remains being received starting in 2027.
While a death in the family is often one of the hardest losses to navigate, Sacred Groves aims to be a “place where people want to visit,” providing a natural, inspiring setting that “has a connection to life,” Furniss said.
The gates to the private property situated on a ridgetop with grassland surrounded by forest are expected to open for burials sometime in the next few months, with updates and other information available on the nonprofit’s website, sacredfamilygroves.org.
When that happens, Sacred Groves will become one of fewer than two dozen cemeteries in the nation dedicated to intertwining natural burial practices with efforts to protect and restore the land where the memorials are located.
“It’s getting real. I’m a little nervous about it but it’s also quite inspiring,” Furniss said. “It might take a few months to get that all together, but we passed a major milestone.”
Kimberly Wear is the Journal’s assistant editor. Reach her at (707) 442-1400, extension 106, or kim@northcoastjournal.com.
This article appears in Sacred Groves.
What a wonderful concept. I remember reading about a tree sanctuary south of Humboldt, as well as the efforts to use cremation for restoring reefs off the southern CA coastline. I’m totally in favor of having all of these as alternatives. Thanks for publishing this – I’ll be looking into it more closely.