HomeMy WebLinkAbout031725 email - Marrowstone Island Community Association meeting TuesdayALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
Greetings:
I just want to let you know that the proposed Jefferson Land Trust green cemetery proposal will be address by the Marrowstone Island community group opposing the project at a MICA meeting.
I know our residents would love to see all three of you there.
The following is letter to the editor that covers the details.
Thanks for you attention,
James G. Wright
To the Editor:
Natural Burial sounds really cool. Skip the embalmer, forget the casket. Return to the Earth the all-natural way.
What’s not a great idea? Planting more than 1,000 bodies in wetlands that straddle a potential salmon-bearing stream.
But that’s just what the venerable Jefferson Land Trust wants to do.
In January the nominal nonprofit went public with plans to open a for-profit “green cemetery” in a 36-acre conservation easement on Marrowstone Island. Details are thin, but the group
says it needs money from the business to support its many good works. Any impact on the island and nearby homeowners appears to be a lesser concern.
The site, an old golf course whose owner enjoys a hefty tax break because it is officially off-limits to development, could be a moneymaker for JLT, but it’s a terrible spot for a cemetery.
The site has a high water table. The two-mile-long stream that runs through it drains the center of the island and at least 22 acres of federally-designated wetlands, including three
on the site itself.
Industry groups say natural burial works best in sandy, loamy soils that break down and absorb “decomposition byproducts.” Waterlogged or impervious soils like the island’s glacial till
prevent conversion to harmless nutrients through microbial decomposition. That means raw chemical “byproducts” flowing into the stream, and then into Mystery Bay.
Those of us who live or own property near the site are not opposed to the concept of green burial. We just believe it should be done in a place where it won’t damage an established community
and a fragile ecosystem.
Join us to hear more at 6:30 p.m. March 18 at the Marrowstone Island Community Association meeting at 230 Garden Club Road, Nordland.
James G. Wright
Jefferson County