Nature Cemetery Embraces Sustainability
In August, The Wilderness Center opened Foxfield Preserve Nature Cemetery in Wilmot, Ohio for business. This 43-acre track, southwest of Canton, is the first Nature Preserve Cemetery operated by a conservation organization in the country and it is Ohio’s first nature preserve cemetery. Foxfield Preserve has only natural burials. There will be no embalming, no steel caskets, and no concrete vaults. Bodies will be buried in biodegradable containers such as wooden or cardboard caskets, blankets or shrouds. There will be up to 200 burials per acre, not the thousand that might be found in a modern cemetery. Simple grave markers of native stone will be acceptable. Foxfield Preserve won’t be a manicured lawn-type cemetery. Nature will dominate with prairie and forest. The planting of native trees and wildflowers will be permitted for graves. Cremated ashes will also be accepted in biodegradable containers or for scatterings of ashes.
Foxfield Preserve Nature Cemetery is designed to offer an economical, environmentally friendly alternative to modern burial, while helping to improve wildlife habitat, nature and water quality. Setting up such a facility seemed like a natural evolution for The Wilderness Center's Executive Director, Gordon Maupin. With 3,500 members and 80,000 visitors a year, The Wilderness Center, which started as a nature center in 1964, has protected more than 2,922 acres of wetlands in five counties in Northeast Ohio through their land trust program. The Center also runs a forestry business to help local land owners with proper forest management. The income from Foxfield Preserve will help fund The Wilderness Center’s land acquisition, endowment and nature education programs.
This will be a nature preserve first," says Gordon Maupin. "We have to remind ourselves that it's about life. It's about giving back to the planet earth as your final act." The Wilderness Center is a nonprofit nature center located one mile west of Wilmot, Ohio. The Center is dedicated to Nature Education, Wildlife Conservation, Natural History Research, and Community Service. For more information on Foxfield Preserve, call Jennifer at 330-763-1331 or visit www.foxfieldpreserve.org.