MARROWSTONE ISLAND — Jefferson Land Trust is taking steps in due diligence before potentially converting a retired golf course into a conservation burial ground.

“The community over many years has been coming to the land trust and expressing a lot of interest in having a green burial option locally,” said Erik Kingfisher, director of the land trust’s stewardship and resilience. “Conservation burial is a kind of green burial where biodegradable, green burial is done in a place that is protected with a local conservation organization and can improve the overall natural values, natural conditions of a property.”

The land trust is in the process of consolidating the 36-acre property from 11 parcels down to one, seeking a conditional use permit from Jefferson County, engaging the site’s neighbors and the public and surveying the property, Kingfisher said.

The Schwartz Road property was purchased and developed into a private golf course in the late 1990s, Kingfisher said. When the golf course went bankrupt in the mid-2010s, its current owner purchased it and has been taking care of it as a private nature preserve for the last seven or eight years, Kingfisher said.

“Right now, a lot of neighbors love walking around out there,” Kingfisher said. “She takes on that liability of having people walk out there, generously, and we see that value too.”

The land trust plans to maintain public accessibility, Kingfisher said.

The owner came to the land trust for help putting long-term protection on the property, Kingfisher said.

The land trust developed a conservation easement on the property, completed in 2019.

The easement, owned by the land trust, removed all but one development right on the property, a 2½-acre envelope, Kingfisher said.

Kingfisher said the easement placed on the property reduced the monetary value significantly. The owner opted to do so out of a desire to protect the land from development.

Now the owner wants to sell the property, he said.

“It’s a lot to take care of,” Kingfisher said. “It’s a demanding place to take care of, with a lot of invasive weeds starting to really take hold out there. It’s too much for any one person to take on. In a way, that’s actually adequately helping improve the habitat conditions.”

Invasive weeds present on the property include Poison Hemlock, Armenian Blackberry, Canadian Thistle, Tansy Ragwort, and Scotch Broom, according to Kingfisher.

When the owner first inquired to see if the land trust was interested in buying the land, it seemed irresponsible to purchase it without additional funds to manage it, Kingfisher said.

“That’s when we realized the merit of these two concepts,” Kingfisher said. “This conservation burial interest that the community has, with this property, could be a great fit.”

The land trust then approached the owner with the idea of purchasing the property with the intention of converting part of it into a conservation burial ground to fund the property’s maintenance. The land trust and the owner entered into a purchase agreement late last year, Kingfisher said.

“The plot sales could help finance the stewardship,” Kingfisher said. “When we budget this out over the next several years, it’s not like this is a money maker. It just generates enough funds to really take care of the place over time.”

Plots are expected to sell for $4,000, with a portion of sales going into an endowment, Kingfisher said. He added that the land trust speculates that 8 to 10 acres could be used with each plot taking up about 30 by 30 feet.

The land trust also would gain revenue from fees for the 12 to 15 plot openings and closings expected annually, Kingfisher said.

The land trust is in the process of having both above ground and underground surveys done to gain a clear picture of how much of the property can be used for burial purposes, he said.

“As far as the timeline, we still have a few studies we want to do,” Kingfisher said. “One is a habitat study, just kind of understanding where the wetland boundaries are. What sort of above-ground features, what areas would be best suited for burial. We also want to work with a geo-hydrologist to understand what below-ground areas are gonna be best suited for burial.”

The land trust has set up a subsidiary, Olympic Wildland Burial Grounds, to own and manage the property, Kingfisher said.

“State law requires any entity that owns and manages a cemetery needs to be set up specifically for that purpose,” Kingfisher said. “It’s going to a public benefit-type organization. It’s going to be under the umbrella of the non-profit, the land trust.”

A staff member would be hired to the subsidiary, and the property would be their single focus, Kingfisher said.

Kingfisher said there has been some confusion about the project since public outreach began. First, the land trust owns an easement on the property; many seem to think the land trust owns the property itself.

“We do not own the property,” Kingfisher said. “We do not own the rights to manage the property, but the landowner has done an amazing amount of public benefit work by buying and protecting it forever. She gave up an enormous amount of real estate value, monetary value.”

Another concern is that the burial ground may bring a notable increase in traffic, Kingfisher said.

“It does not occur to me that this would be a place that would generate a whole lot of vehicle traffic,” Kingfisher said.

Kingfisher said he asked for average numbers of visitation on a forum hosted by Conservation Burial Alliance and received several responses. Someone from a conservation burial ground outside of Tampa, Fla. — population 3 million — said that their property saw one to five cars a day, Kingfisher said.

“Some day, instead of this, there could just be a house on this property with a family and soccer practice and grocery trips,” Kingfisher said. “You end up with an average household vehicle trips per day, somewhere between six and 10 for an average American household. Yes, there would be some days that would have more cars because there would be a burial activity and there might be a ceremony.”

Kingfisher said burial services would be small and that a parking lot would be limited to 10 to 15 spaces. He said larger funerals and celebration of life events would not be held at the property.

“We’ve tried to help people understand that we’re not talking about Fort Flagler here,” Kingfisher said. “We’re talking about a very quiet, well-managed neighbor. This is going to be maybe the best neighbor you could possibly imagine because it’s going to be a nature preserve. It’s going to be a well taken care of nature preserve that also has this really special function.”

Kingfisher said Schwarz Road has something like 20 undeveloped parcels, likely to be developed into households over time.

“The other question that keeps coming up is water quality and whether or not this would present any water pollution problems,” Kingfisher said. “We would not be pursuing this if that was at all possible. We’re a conservation organization.”

Kingfisher said Jefferson Land Trust is responsible for overseeing that the property owner meets the terms of the easement but doesn’t have any obligation to purchase the property. The land trust sees an opportunity that’s in the public’s interest both in terms of offering a desired service and maintaining public access, he said.

If the project moves forward, the land trust will seek the conservation burial certification, which is the highest standard for a green cemetery granted by Green Burial Council, Kingfisher said.

“We’re pursuing this because we think it would be good for the community and good for the land,” Kingfisher said.

For more information, visit https://saveland.org/conservation-burial-program.

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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.