In 2014, when he first started dreaming of starting a green burial forest, I told him "I will not be married to a grave digger." 

I stand corrected.

I'm Annica—my husband Peter and I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He brings the chill, I bring the sass. We have a busy 3-year-old, Rubin, and a spunky 6-year-old, Linden. (Learn more about us here.)

Peter is a biologist, birder, and native plant enthusiast. He is nearing the end of his PhD in Biological Science, with an emphasis in Botany. I am a birth and death doula, birth photographer, and artist, with experience in community development.

After years of dreaming up how we could start a business together with our shared passions—while we were on road trips, out for breakfast, and stuck at home during COVID quarantine with our kids—we bought a forest property in West Michigan! Together, Peter and I are working to start a burial forest for conservation burial.

You've probably heard of green burial, or natural burial. If not, it is simply burying a body along with only biodegradable materials. There is nothing revolutionary about it—it is how burial was done until fairly recently.

I'm guessing you may not have heard of conservation burial, which takes green burial a step further.

Conservation burial is natural burial in a protected native ecosystem with the intent to cultivate a thriving natural area. That's wordy...but it basically means that green burials will save the trees. How?

Once a body is buried in a cemetery, the land must remain protected in perpetuity. So, not only are we providing a sought-after and environmentally-positive service, but doing so is funding the perpetual conservation of the native habitat. It's self-supporting!

It will be an enduring natural asset for the community (a.k.a. a free nature preserve), with innumerable biodiversity and ecological benefits. But to make it happen...

We need your help!

We have had overwhelming support for the burial forest and a long wait list for plots once we have permission to establish the cemetery. We are confident that it will be valued in our community. However, we have encountered hurdles and setbacks - the bureaucratic processes take time. In order to continue taking next steps, we need financial support. Our hope is that by trailblazing in our state and sharing our process, other passionate environmentalists will bring conservation burial grounds to their communities as well.

According to a 2023 NFDA (National Funeral Director's Association) Consumer Survey, 60% of Americans are interested in green burial options. People want green burial, but it is not yet widely available. And not all green burial is the same.

We 100% believe in the conservation burial model. Of all the interment options available, it requires the least infrastructure and creates no harmful waste. And in case you forgot, a forest is saved as a side-effect. (I know you didn't forget. It's just that this is the best side-effect I can think of!)

We have self-funded the purchase of the land and worked without compensation thus far. Now we need our community to rally around us so that we can cover expenses as we take next steps and so that we keep putting in the time/energy to do this work as quickly as possible. We are in it to win it!

We Are Nature

Peter came up with the phrase, "WE ARE NATURE" and I love it. At first, I raised an eyebrow and told him "I have no idea what that means." But now I get it...

...To us, "WE ARE NATURE" means that we are an important part of life on earth. And that doesn’t stop when we die. Our culture has a general impression that we are somehow separate from nature. We are not. We are a part of it. And we see the beauty and profundity in remaining that way, even after we die.

Help us bring the burial forest TO LIFE.

If you are as excited about this concept as we are, please share it with your networks! It would mean the world to us. 

- Annica