A greener way to bury the dead is gaining ground — and sparking backlash
The proposed cemetery would specialize in green burials, which eschew the typical trappings of the deathcare industry, like chemical embalming and metal caskets, in favor of biodegradable materials – such as a cloth shrouds, unfinished pine caskets or nothing at all – for more natural decomposition.
But as word of the project spread, opposition in the community of Blackhoof Township quickly mounted. Residents rallied against landowner Matt Connell’s proposal with many expressing concerns the burial site would disrupt their quiet community and contaminate groundwater or attract wildlife that could dig up the graves.
Connell told CNN his neighbors launched an intimidation campaign against him, with drones often hovering over the property and the sounds of gunfire echoing nearby.
“A lot of what I think Americans know about cemeteries comes from Scooby Doo … It comes from Hollywood freaking people out with the rows of headstones,” Connell said. “In a lot of ways, we treat it like a toxic waste site. It’s not always a place that’s viewed as loving and a sanctuary for healing, but I’m trying to change that.”
The debate over the cemetery in Blackhoof is a microcosm of a much larger problem: A national trend that is challenging traditional burial techniques and practices.
Experts say most US burials relied on what are now considered green techniques until the 20th century, and the burial traditions of many religious groups have long adhered to similar practices.
Today, growing interest in simpler, lower-cost and environmentally friendly methods is fueling a wider resurgence. There are more than 500 cemeteries across the US and Canada, that provide green burial services, up from just over 100 in 2015, according to New Hampshire Funeral Resources & Education. And a 2025 study from the National Funeral Directors Association found more than 60% of Americans over 40 were interested in exploring natural burial options.
Tanya Marsh, a professor specializing in funeral and cemetery law at Wake Forest University, said skepticism of green burials isn’t uncommon.
“We’ve outsourced death so completely to a professional industry that when people encounter it in a more natural form, it can trigger panic rather than recognition. And that panic often leads to misinformation, fear, and stigma,” she added. Residents rallied against landowner Matt Connell’s proposal for a green cemetery. Matt Connell
Swapping gravestones for fieldstones
That trend — along with a desire to improve deathcare — led Connell to partner with Ed Bixby, owner of Steelmantown Church in New Jersey, which operates several green cemeteries nationwide.
When Connell and Bixby purchased their property in 2022 in Blackhoof Township, around 125 miles north of Minneapolis, the land was zoned to allow for cemetery use without the need for a permit.
They named the site Loving Earth Memorial Gardens, reflecting their mission to return the deceased to the ground in a peaceful, natural setting designed as a sanctuary for people of all faiths and beliefs.
Without headstones, Loving Earth will not look like a conventional cemetery. Instead, Connell will give mourners native wildflower species, a native tree, or a native berry bush, to plant on top of individual graves.
“We’ll also offer local fieldstones, which they can decorate themselves, for families to mark their loved ones’ graves,” he said.
Connell notified the Carlton County Recorder’s Office of his plans that year and said he faced no official resistance, but a week later his neighbor down the road, approached him with threats.
“He informed me that he was going to ‘shut us down’ and told me that he goes to church with the county attorney and that she would do whatever he said. I just kinda shrugged him off as some weird dude,” Connell said.
CNN isn’t naming Connell’s neighbor but has reached out to him for comment.
From there, it didn’t take long for other residents to join the opposition and the township board to organize meetings pushing back on the proposal.
Blackhoof resident Barbara Nichols was among the many residents who received an invitation to the meetings. Before attending, she looked up Connell’s number and called him to get more information on his plans.
“We had a long discussion about what he was trying to do,” she said, noting she came away from the conversation supportive of Connell’s efforts.
Connell told Nichols he was nervous to attend the township meetings due to hostility in the community, and she agreed to attend on his behalf, twice reading statements he prepared for the board.
The letter, shared with CNN, addressed some concerns raised by residents. It noted that the hundreds of feet of sand and clay on Loving Earth’s plot would make groundwater virtually impenetrable by human remains, and how the property will not lose value because Loving Earth will be a public green space.
“I read the statement and people were so upset with me. The room pulsated with anger,” Nichols said. “At least one neighbor asked me why I didn’t swap property with Matt if I was so supportive of the idea of a green cemetery.”
“We share the same neighborhood, same wetlands, same aquifer and same wildlife roaming about,” Nichols said. “As far as I can see, this [letter] negates all their objections as stated.”
Around this time, an unknown neighbor went to Connell’s property with a dirt bike and “tore the place up pretty good,” he said. Another neighbor, who didn’t respond to CNN’s request for comment, also harassed him with drones, Connell said.
Community backlash grows
The intense opposition soon reached the state level. In 2023, Minnesota lawmakers passed a two-year moratorium on new green cemeteries while launching a study of their environmental impact.
The results, published in early 2025, found that, when done properly, natural burials pose little environmental risk and can even help enrich soil.
The study also outlined instructions on how bodies should be buried in natural settings –– a minimum of 50 feet away from water supply wells and borings, and roughly 3.5 to 4 feet deep in soil, to maximize decomposition and prevent contamination.
The state also legalized “natural organic reduction,” or human composting, though facilities must comply with local zoning laws.
As the moratorium was set to expire in July 2025, Carlton County imposed its own one-year ban on new natural burial sites, effectively extending the pause and prompting Connell and Bixby to file a federal lawsuit accusing the county of unlawfully blocking the project and infringing on their First Amendment and religious rights.
In March, a judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying they failed to state “a claim upon which relief can be granted.” Connell said he and Bixby plan to appeal the decision.
“They are using new arbitrarily made green burial guidelines simply to find a way to stop us,” Connell said, citing new claims from neighbors that the property’s soil is “too sandy” and sits on a “slight slope” unsuitable for burials.
A family-led approach to death
The federal lawsuit has put Loving Earth at the center of a broader fight over who can open a cemetery –– and how far communities can go to stop one. It is one of a growing number of cases where green burial proposals have prompted moratoriums or zoning changes.
Many land requirements for cemeteries like fencing or paved roads were designed with conventional burial plots in mind, said Sarah Chavez, executive director of Order of the Good Death, a group that advocates for positive deathcare experiences.
These requirements also create problems for cultures and traditions that don’t practice traditional Western burials, instead getting families and friends directly involved in preparation of the body and burial.
“Yet in a handful of states, families are still legally required to hire a funeral director,” Chavez said, adding that as more people seek hands on, family-led approaches to deathcare, bureaucratic requirements can create unnecessary obstacles and financial burdens.
This family-led approach is exactly what Peter Quakenbush and his partner Anni wanted to bring to their rural Michigan community when they purchased 20 acres of woodlands near the state’s Manistee National Forest.
The idea for a natural burial forest took shape after they lost their first child 12 weeks into pregnancy while living in the Philippines. After bringing the baby’s remains home, they held a small ceremony in a nearby forest, laying their child to rest among the trees.
“The two of us held a little ceremony in the forest and laid our hopes and dreams for our first baby to rest,” Quakenbush wrote in an account of the inspiration behind West Michigan Burial Forest. “And now, there is a little spot on this earth infused with them, holding them.”
But like in Blackhoof Township, the venture faced backlash over concerns about groundwater contamination and increased traffic. Brooks Township planning board passed an amended zoning ordinance in 2024 banning all new cemeteries, prompting the couple to file a lawsuit.
In the summer of 2024, a judge ruled the township’s ban on new cemeteries was unconstitutional. The township appealed that decision but a court date hasn’t been set.
While waiting for the appeal to play out, the township revised a local ordinance to essentially regulate cemeteries “beyond feasibility,” Quakenbush said.
“It’s a de facto ban,” Katrin Marquez, an attorney from the Institute for Justice who represents Quakenbush told CNN. “It’s unlikely that any land (in Brooks Township) would meet all those requirements.”
More than 500 people are on a waitlist for a burial plot in the forest, Quakenbush said, though many who expressed early interest have already passed away.
“The township’s reaction is founded on fears that are groundless,” Marquez said. “Cemeteries are a necessity of life.”
