Many Thanks to Everyone Who Contributed to the Cemetery Project
Creation of the Denman Island Natural Burial Cemetery was made possible through the interest and generosity of our partner, the Denman Conservancy Association (DCA), which owned the Cemetery land until early 2013. DCA holds a Conservation Covenant for the Cemetery land. As a result, the DCA Board has an ongoing role in ensuring that the ecological values of the land are protected in perpetuity.
The Board of Directors of the Denman Island Memorial Society (DIMS) are grateful for advice provided early on by Stephen Olson, Executive Director of Royal Oak Burial Park in Victoria, B.C., based on his experience of expanding Royal Oak in 2008 to include an area for natural burials.
Members of the Community Studio, a non-profit society comprising landscape architects and related professionals, provided invaluable volunteer help by facilitating two community workshops—one in the spring of 2010 and one in the fall of that year. Checking in often with the DIMS Board, the Community Studio then prepared a detailed architectural design for the landscape of the Cemetery.
A number of individuals donated their services for tasks such as designing the entrance gates and communal memorial structures, surveying the burial areas, creating paths through the forested area, constructing the gates, creating signs, and editing. Other individuals who were contracted for tasks such as tree cutting, laying gravel, and surveying the property boundaries reduced their rates as a contribution to the Cemetery Project.
The DIMS Board thanks members of the community as a whole for their support of the various events and endeavors undertaken to raise funds for the Cemetery Project and for their financial donations to the Project.
Finally, the DIMS Board thanks the following agencies and organizations who provided funding for the Cemetery Project: The Real Estate Foundation of BC, the Comox Valley Regional District, Denman WORKS!, the Union Bay Credit Union (now First Credit Union), the Natural Burial Association and Piercy’s Mount Washington Funeral Home. Without these funders the Cemetery Project would not have been possible.