We receive many questions from people asking about what they need to do to plan ahead for their death. While this page is by no means an exhaustive exploration on the topic, we hope the following resources help you formulate cemetery arrangements which both meet your desires, and help minimize the burdens so often placed on the surviving family and friends.

There are three main considerations with regard to cemetery planning, in planning for your death.

Purchasing a Plot in a Cemetery

Purchasing your burial plot ahead of time eliminates a significant detail that your grieving survivors have to manage. For those inspired by natural burial, having a plot purchased and ready to go makes your desires for a natural death that much more clear.

A full body burial in Herland Forest currently totals $3,000. That includes the rights of Interment ($2500), the contribution to the Endowment Care Trust Fund ($250) the cost of opening and closing losing of grave ($200), and the administrative fees ($50).

As time goes on, there is no guarantee that these prices will remain this low. Buying plots ahead of time means you get the best value for your dollar.

Purchasing ahead of time also means that your contribution to Herland Forests mission will be able to be put to use conserving and stewarding the Cemetery’s current 20 acres, and potentially expanding the cemetery into surrounding critical habitat and watershed.

Find a funeral director who respects your wishes

As you get older, you may want to begin building a relationship with a funeral director or death mid-wife.

Herland Forest is not a funeral home, and we are not legally permitted to handle all death care related decisions. It is important… (???)

Affiliated Funeral Homes/lists the funeral directors in our area, along with funeral directors we’ve communicated with in other larger cities in our network. We encourage you to talk with several funeral directors and see if they resonate with you desire for a natural burial.

If you are living in Oregon, be sure to express to them your desire to be buried in a Washington State Cemetery. Interstate transport of a body requires extra forms, and is often associated with extra fees.

You may wish to get in touch with your local Funeral Consumers Alliance. The FCA has set standards for operating funeral homes, and often have relationships with reputable funeral directors in the region.

Communicate your Desires to Loved Ones

Don’t put your deed in a security box and don’t put your burial plans in your will—people often don’t look at those documents until the funeral is over.

Be sure to show your family the deed and where you keep it, and provide each of them with a simple note that says what kind of burial you want, and where. You might want to attach copies of it to your living will, if you have one. It is a good idea to keep the Deed with your birth certificate, the title to your car, your life insurance policy and the deed to your house. Let your loved ones know where these important documents are stored so they do not have to spend time searching in the event of your death.

In Washington state, embalming is only legally required in a few instances. Though we don’t accept embalmed bodies, we make exceptions for those embalmed per legal requirements, say for out-of-state transport.* We’ve had several out-of-state burials and so far, none has required embalming.

When bodies need to cross state lines, they’re most often sent by air. It’s actually fairly routine. It’s usually less expensive to work with a funeral home in our area. They’ll call a shipping service in your area to pick up the body—way cheaper than having a funeral home deliver it to the airport. Though embalming is sometimes mandated by an airline’s own rules, most states don’t mandate that bodies be embalmed for transport by common carrier over state lines. Lots of dry ice, or even ice packs, works fine in keeping bodies cool enough. New Jersey and Alaska require embalming for transporting out of state if the body won’t arrive at its final destination within 24 hours. (A New Jersey funeral director tells us that dry ice is an acceptable substitute.) Kansas, Idaho, and Minnesota require embalming if a body is moved by common carrier. And Alabama requires embalming for any out-of-state transport by any means. The local funeral director would meet the plane (probably in Rochester, NY) to receive the body. Lisa Carlson’s Caring for Your Own Dead describes the laws for each state.

Funeral directors offer a valuable service. But if your family wants to handle this themselves, and they are confident that they can do it safely and properly, they may be alternatives. New York law mandates that funeral directors transport those who die in New York—but if you live in a nearby state where families may transport a body, they may, if they meet New York’s sanitary code, obtain a burial transport permit, and bring a loved one to Greensprings themselves. They must, however, arrange for a New York funeral director to meet them on arrival at Greensprings. Read Lisa Carlson’s Caring for Your Own Dead for more information.

What about pre-paying for a funeral? New York is one of two states (New Jersey is the other) that requires funeral homes to deposit 100 percent of your money in trust. You have the right to a full refund, with interest, on a revocable plan. (Consider carefully before agreeing to an irrevocable plan.)

If you live outside of New York or New Jersey, here’s what the Funeral Consumer Alliance advises:

“Planning ahead is a great idea, but paying ahead usually is not. There are ways to put aside your money safely while keeping under your (not the funeral director’s) control. The only time it may be good idea to prepay for a funeral is when you are facing what’s called a Medicaid spend-down. While Medicaid will make you spend most of your own assets before they pay for your long-term care, they will allow you to set aside your funeral expenses in a prepaid plan.”

*Note that we also accept bodies embalmed by accident or against the deceased’s wishes.

Arranging a Visit to Herland Forest

Call us at (509) 630-6848. We will make every effort to accommodate your schedule.