Land Trusts, Landowners, and Cemeteries: Finding Common Ground

Not all land trust entities are prepared to take on the added responsibilities and liabilities associated with conducting burials on protected land. In an effort to help start that conversation, we have identified some areas of concern that may conversely become areas of opportunity. Landowners, conservationists, and cemeterians are all advised to assess the following with an eye to understanding the many perspectives others have on these issues to foster a deeper, more thoughtful exchange of ideas and practicalities in pursuit of meaningful, sustainable conservation burial partnerships.

Mission Creep 

• Land trusts are not in the death business 
• They may not be interested in owning a cemetery
• It may feel like just one more distraction from their mission

Risk/Liability 

• Concerns about the potential for land and water contamination
• Concerns about succession planning, reversionary clauses
• Who is ultimately responsible for the cemetery?
• What added responsibility would owning or being involved with a cemetery place on the land trust?

Land Trust Planning and Management Capacity

• Land trusts already have full plates, may not interested in adding any further obligations 
• Concerns about managing the partnerships/division of labor needed to manage the cemetery
• Opportunities for blending land management and stewardship plans
• Managing best practices overlaps/redundancies/conflicts 

Conservation - Ecology

• How could a conservation burial cemetery benefit the ecology of a site?
• What might be negative impacts of burying bodies on a conservation property?
• Do burials create negative water quality impacts?
• How intensely does a cemetery need to be managed and is it compatible with ecological principles?

Cost 

• Where will start-up funds come from?
• Where will income resources come from? 
• What percentage of profits will the land trust earn for their stewardship endowment? 

Revenue

• What are the opportunities that a conservation burial ground could provide to land trust stewardship, conservation or operating funds?
• How could a conservation burial ground positively impact fundraising for the land trust?
• Could it benefit potential bequests?
• How reliable is this for creating substantive financial benefit?
• Is it right for a land trust to benefit as an easement holder?
• What is the financial relationship with the grantee?
• How could a conservation burial ground grow a land trust's membership base?

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
​— William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida