Information and resources for green burials in Oregon

Natural, or green, burials:

Definitions and standards vary, but common themes are caskets or shrouds that are biodegradable. No toxic embalming fluid or concrete or steel vaults or liners are used. Natural burials can be inexpensive or spendy, depending on the materials chosen, but it is often repeated that they cost roughly half of what conventional burials cost.

Home burials:

Burying a family member on property you own, with or without the help of a funeral home, is legal under state law with a death certificate, but in some cases local governments have set their own restrictions, so you need to check with city and county planning/zoning departments (and with your home owners association, if you have one). The state requires that burials be disclosed when the property is sold. For other requirements, see

, a fact sheet put together by the Oregon Cemetery and Mortuary Board, a state agency. The board will also field phone calls from consumers and direct them to contacts in planning departments -- it can be difficult to track down this information on your own (971-673-1500).

Multnomah County doesn't have anything in its code specifically about home burials. It does, of course, have rules about cemeteries, but what constitutes a cemetery isn't defined, says county spokesman Shawn Cunningham. And the City of Portland "has no land-use regulations that address" home burial, says Mike Hayakawa of the Land Use Services department.

White Eagle Memorial Preserve:

About a 2 1/2 hour drive from Portland, the conservation burial area near Goldendale, Wash., offers 20-by-20-foot gravesites for $2,200. The plots are large so the staff can site the grave in an environmentally sensitive way -- away from tree roots, for example. GPS is used to keep track of the plots; simple markers of native materials with names engraved are optional, but the nine burials there so far have not chosen to use them. About 30 plots have been sold so far, with room for 1,000 or more. Simple shrouds and pine caskets, built from trees felled and milled on the nearby ranch that's part of the same land trust, are available.

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River View Cemetery:

As of last month, the nonprofit River View Cemetery became, director David Noble believes, the first cemetery of its size in the country to allow natural burials anywhere in the cemetery, as opposed to just in a special section. As for the issue of sinking ground when vaults aren't used, he points out that when the cemetery was established in 1882 and for about 50 years afterward, nearly all the burials were natural. Those gravesites just require a little more maintenance of backfilling and reseeding.

Noble prefers the term natural burial because, he says, "There are many shades of green" -- and he's not ready to swear off weed killer in the whole cemetery.

As its next step, River View does plan to develop a special burial area with sustainable landscaping and non-traditional markers such as boulders or trees. River View also has roughly 150 acres of undeveloped land, part of which could potentially be used for forest burials someday if demand rises. But Noble likes the idea of incorporating natural burials in the regular cemetery, where loved ones can easily visit marked graves, and leaving the forest in an undisturbed state.

George Pioneer Cemetery

, about 15 miles east of Estacada, has one-eighth of an acre of fir forest set aside with room for 16 green-burial gravesites. So far two people have been buried there, and two other plots have been sold. Plots cost $700. Call sexton Larry Gyure at 503-730-0142 for more info. When those plots are sold, the Estacade Cemetery District plans to set aside part of Springwater Cemetery, four miles from Estacada, for green burials, Gyure says.

Valley Memorial Park

in Hillsboro also has a dedicated green burial area.

Other cemeteries around the state, especially small pioneer cemeteries, allow burials without vaults, so ask around. As Catlin Gabel science teacher Larry Hurst points out, many of the older cemeteries, fenced off from livestock, have become refuges for native plants. Many larger cemeteries offer some green options, even if they require vaults or liners, so ask your provider.

Natural Burial Company

: Natural burial advocate Cynthia Beal of Eugene, who takes inspiration from the natural burial movement in England, imports wicker caskets and has developed a pine shroud board with no toxic glues.

Cornerstone Funeral Services:

Elizabeth Fournier, "the Green Reaper," based in Boring, helps with green burials.

Portland Natural Caskets

: Caskets built of ponderosa pine from Oregon mills, with no toxic glues or finishes.

Marian Spadone

: Earth-friendly ceremonial garments and shrouds and workshops about green burial and the connection between death and art. A Fine Farewell,

Nancy Ward

: Helps with home funerals and preparing unembalmed bodies for burial.

Green Burial Council

: This national organization based in Santa Fe, N.M., lists approved funeral homes and cemeteries offering natural burial. Executive director Joe Sehee says he has been working with a couple of groups in the Portland area and he expects both a special scattering ground for ashes and a new conservation burial ground near the Portland area to develop within the next couple of years.

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