Rules and Regulations

Cemetery Rules and Regulations

Effective date: June 1, 2026. Owned and operated by Ascend Green Burial LLC, doing business as Ascend Green Burial (“Ascend”).

1. Purpose and Mission

Ascend is a natural burial ground and ecological restoration property. Ascend is managed first as a nature restoration site and second as a place of human interment. These Rules and Regulations (“Rules”) are adopted to protect the ecological integrity of the land, preserve the safety of visitors and workers, and establish uniform standards for interment, memorialization, access, and stewardship. All staff, contractors, and volunteers shall carry out cemetery operations in accordance with Ascend’s Maintenance and Operations Manual, as updated from time to time. Ascend shall accurately represent its level of Green Burial Council certification in all marketing materials, websites, and communications with the public, clients, and the media.

2. Acceptance and Binding Effect

Compliance with these Rules is a condition of: (a) purchase of any burial or interment right; (b) purchase of any cemetery merchandise or services; (c) any interment, scattering, visitation, or ceremony conducted on the property; and (d) entry onto the property. All interment-right holders, family members, visitors, funeral homes, vendors, clergy, celebrants, contractors, volunteers, and service providers are bound by the Rules in effect at the time of use of the property or provision of services.

3. Governing Law

The operation of Ascend shall be governed by applicable federal law, Ohio law, and these Rules, as each may be amended from time to time. If any provision of these Rules conflicts with applicable law, the law shall control and the remaining provisions shall remain in effect.

4. Authority of Ascend

Ascend shall have the sole and absolute discretion to interpret, apply, and enforce these Rules and to make decisions necessary for safe and lawful cemetery operation, conservation management, and ecological restoration. Ascend reserves the right to: (a) adopt, amend, suspend, or repeal these Rules, subject to Section 30; (b) refuse access to the property; (c) postpone, interrupt, relocate, or cancel a service when necessary for safety, weather, site conditions, operational necessity, or legal compliance; (d) reject or remove any non-compliant remains, container, marker, planting, decoration, or item; and (e) require advance approval of any goods, materials, ceremony plans, vendors, or service providers. Failure to enforce any Rule in a particular case shall not constitute a waiver.

5. Nature of Rights Granted

A purchase agreement issued by Ascend conveys only a limited right of interment in a designated burial space. It does not convey fee simple title or any other ownership interest in the land. Every burial right is subject to: (a) these Rules; (b) the cemetery’s deed, plat, maps, and official records, as described in Section 6; (c) applicable law; (d) Ascend’s continuing right to enter any part of the property for maintenance, ecological restoration, error correction, surveying, inspection, utilities, drainage, access, safety, and compliance; (e) the Declaration of Restrictive Covenants that Ascend will record against the property on or before the date of the first interment, which limits the property to use as a natural burial ground and conservation land, runs with the land, is irrevocable, and is enforceable in perpetuity; and (f) any conservation easement Ascend later grants to a government agency or nonprofit conservation organization, which may add to, but shall not reduce, the protections of the Declaration (together, the “Conservation Instruments”).

6. Official Records and Control

Ascend’s books, maps, plats, surveys, GPS references, written agreements, and interment records shall constitute the official cemetery records. In the event of any discrepancy among family recollection, temporary field marking, digital map output, GPS point, or physical appearance on the ground, Ascend’s official records shall control unless corrected by Ascend or by operation of law. Ascend may correct clerical, administrative, surveying, mapping, or placement errors.

7. Required Authorizations and Ohio Compliance

No interment, inurnment, or other disposition shall occur until Ascend has received all documentation required by law and by Ascend, including any burial permit or transit permit required by Ohio law. Ascend shall endorse and retain burial permits and maintain interment records as required by applicable law, including Ohio Revised Code section 3705.17. Ascend may rely on any permit, authorization, declaration, instruction, affidavit, or representation that reasonably appears genuine and properly executed.

8. Right of Disposition

Ascend may rely on instructions from the person or persons who hold the legal right of disposition under applicable Ohio law, including any designated representative, successor representative, surviving spouse, next of kin, guardian, or other legally authorized person. Ascend shall have no duty to investigate the truth of factual statements made by any person claiming authority, provided Ascend acts in good faith. If Ascend becomes aware of a dispute concerning the identity of the person with the right of disposition, the place or manner of disposition, or any related issue, Ascend may suspend all services until the dispute is resolved by: (a) written agreement satisfactory to Ascend; or (b) court order or other legally sufficient directive. Ascend shall not be liable for delay resulting from such a dispute.

9. Access and Visitor Conduct

The grounds are open only during posted hours, presently dawn to dusk, unless otherwise authorized by Ascend. Visitors shall remain on designated roads, parking areas, trails, and approved gathering areas. Entry into restoration zones, active work zones, or burial preparation areas may be restricted. The following are prohibited unless expressly authorized in writing by Ascend: (a) smoking, vaping, open flame, fireworks, or cooking; (b) hunting, trapping, fishing, or discharge of weapons; (c) alcohol or illegal substances; (d) drones; (e) commercial photography, filming, or organized events; (f) digging, cutting, collecting, or disturbing soil, vegetation, wildlife, or water features; (g) off-road vehicle use; and (h) any conduct that disrupts services, disturbs wildlife habitat, or creates safety risk. Children under eighteen must be accompanied by an adult. Dogs are permitted only if leashed and under control at all times, only in areas designated by Ascend, and only if waste is immediately removed by the owner. Ascend may prohibit pets at any time.

10. Assumption of Natural Conditions

Ascend is a natural landscape containing uneven terrain, tall vegetation, holes, stumps, mud, snow, ice, insects, ticks, snakes, wildlife, allergens, farm or land-management equipment, restoration activity, and prescribed fire risk. All persons entering the property do so at their own risk and assume the ordinary risks of visiting a natural preserve and cemetery.

11. Burial Standards

Ascend is a natural burial cemetery. Ascend follows the Green Burial Council’s Standards for natural burial. Embalming is not required for burial at Ascend, and refrigeration or dry ice is the preferred method of temporary preservation. When embalming is necessary, such as when required by applicable law, by a carrier transporting the remains, or by the timing of a delayed service, the remains may be embalmed only with a nontoxic embalming product approved by the Green Burial Council. Remains embalmed with any other product are prohibited, and Ascend will require the funeral director, or other person responsible for the remains, to confirm in writing the embalming product used. Vaults (whether full, partial, inverted, or otherwise), vault lids, grave liners, partitioned liners, concrete boxes, slabs, concrete, plastic, fiberglass, and non-biodegradable outer burial containers are prohibited. All burial containers, shrouds, and urns must be made only of natural, biodegradable materials, as further described in Section 14. All remains, clothing, shrouds, caskets, urns, and accompanying items must be compatible with natural burial and ecological restoration. Ascend may reject any remains, container, or item that in Ascend’s judgment is unsafe, unlawful, non-biodegradable, toxic, excessively processed, incompatible with the site, or contrary to Ascend’s mission.

12. Clothing and Personal Effects

Decedents shall be dressed only in natural and biodegradable materials approved by Ascend, including cotton, wool, silk, or linen, without synthetic components. Synthetic fabrics, synthetic thread, elastic, plastic, foam, treated leather, treated footwear, metal components, and non-biodegradable fasteners are prohibited unless removed before interment. Jewelry, keepsakes, photographs, tokens, letters, and other mementos placed with the remains must be fully biodegradable and approved in advance. Ascend may require removal of any item before interment or may remove and dispose of any prohibited item discovered later.

13. Medical Devices and Hazardous Materials

All battery-powered, pressurized, radioactive, infectious, or otherwise hazardous devices or materials must be removed before interment. Ascend may require written confirmation from the funeral director, authorizing agent, or other responsible person that any prohibited or hazardous device has been removed.

14. Containers and Material Approval

All burial containers, including shrouds, caskets, urns, trays, boards, lowering aids, and related materials, require advance approval by Ascend. Reusable lowering straps and equipment that are removed from the grave before closing are not subject to the material requirements of this Section. Approved containers must be made only of untreated, biodegradable, and non-toxic materials that are suitable for manual handling and natural burial, including unfinished wood, wicker, cardboard, natural fiber, or other approved material. Metal, plastic, fiberglass, composite materials, toxic finishes, synthetic liners, non-biodegradable coatings, and materials that interfere with decomposition or land stewardship are prohibited. Locally or regionally sourced materials are preferred. Ascend may approve or reject any container in its sole discretion. Ascend may impose reasonable size, design, construction, and weight limits for safety and operational reasons.

15. Plot Size, Capacity, and Placement

The standard adult burial space is 10 feet by 10 feet unless otherwise designated by Ascend in writing. Unless otherwise approved in writing, each standard space may contain: (a) one full-body interment; (b) one full-body interment and one cremated-remains interment; or (c) two cremated-remains interments. All grave location, orientation, spacing, and depth shall be determined by Ascend.

Each full-body interment shall have not less than twenty-four (24) inches of soil cover above the remains or container, with a finished grave depth generally between three (3) and three and one-half (3.5) feet, or any greater depth required by applicable law. Before a burial space is offered for sale or used, Ascend shall verify its suitability through soil investigations conducted or reviewed by a qualified soil scientist, using test pits or borings that are representative of the soil map unit and landscape position of the space. No full-body interment shall be placed in a space where the investigation finds, within the planned grave depth plus 12 inches, (a) free water, (b) redoximorphic depletions or other field indicators of seasonal saturation, or (c) hard bedrock or other material that prevents excavation to the required depth. Ascend shall keep the soil investigation reports in its official records, shall check groundwater and bedrock conditions when each grave is opened, and shall relocate any interment that does not meet this Section. This Section does not reduce any greater separation or depth required by Carroll County or Ohio law.

No interment or scattering shall occur in any sensitive area identified in Ascend’s Ecological Impact Assessment or in any area designated by Ascend as a conservation buffer, drainageway, or other no-burial zone. Average density across the cemetery shall not exceed three hundred (300) plots per acre. A plot is any space designated by Ascend for interment, including a space designated for cremated remains. A cremated-remains interment placed within a standard burial space under (b) or (c) above does not create an additional plot. Ascend shall lay out each burial section, including the paths, buffers, and unplatted space within it, so that this limit is met.

16. Opening and Closing of Graves

No person shall open or close any grave, burial space, or cremated-remains space without Ascend’s permission. Ascend or its authorized agents shall control all opening, layout, and final approval of all burial spaces. Ascend shall offer families the opportunity to participate in the burial and ritual process, including carrying, lowering, backfilling, and ceremonial closing, under the direct supervision of Ascend staff and consistent with Ohio law. For safety reasons, families and visitors may not excavate full-body graves.

17. Scheduling, Notice, and Conditions of Service

Ascend requires at least seventy-two (72) hours’ notice for interment unless Ascend agrees otherwise. All interments and services are subject to weather, ground conditions, wildfire risk, prescribed-burn schedules, staff availability, documentation status, equipment conditions, and legal compliance. Ascend will make reasonable efforts to accommodate religious timing requirements, but cannot guarantee accommodation. Expedited or non-standard scheduling may incur additional fees. Ascend may delay, reschedule, or relocate a service due to rain, snow, flooding, frozen ground, high winds, burn operations, unsafe access, wildlife management, emergency conditions, or other circumstances beyond Ascend’s control.

18. Payment

All cemetery charges, fees, and approved third-party costs must be paid in full before interment, placement, scattering, or installation, unless Ascend agrees otherwise in writing. Ascend may refuse performance until all required sums are paid. Ascend shall deposit not less than ten percent (10%) of the purchase price of each burial right into an endowment care fund maintained in accordance with Ohio Revised Code section 1721.21 for the long-term maintenance and stewardship of the property.

19. Cremated Remains Interment and Scattering

Cremated remains may be interred or scattered only in locations approved by Ascend. Scattering is permitted only in specifically designated areas and only in the manner authorized by Ascend. Cremated remains shall be placed in a manner and quantity that avoids concentration in any one location, and Ascend may require that cremated remains be mixed with soil or compost before placement. Scattering outside approved areas is prohibited. No bag, box, plastic sleeve, temporary container, tag, or other non-approved material may be left on the grounds. Ascend may require documentation identifying the decedent and the authorizing agent and may require confirmation that the disposition is lawful.

20. Markers and Memorialization

Markers are optional unless otherwise required by Ascend. If installed, markers must: (a) be pre-approved by Ascend; (b) consist of natural stone, preferably native to or quarried in the region, or other approved natural material; (c) lie substantially flat to grade; (d) not project more than three inches above grade; and (e) not exceed 216 square inches of surface area. Engraving is permitted subject to approval. Polished finishes, artificial coloration, ceramic portrait inserts, metal attachments, glass, and similar non-conforming elements are prohibited. Ascend may remove, reset, refuse, or require replacement of any non-compliant marker.

21. Decorations and Adornments

To protect ecological restoration and maintenance operations, the following are prohibited, except that Ascend may approve in writing the temporary placement of items described in clauses (e) through (i) during a service, provided they are removed at its conclusion: (a) artificial flowers; (b) plastics; (c) glass; (d) balloons; (e) flags; (f) lights, including solar lights; (g) wind chimes; (h) metal hooks or shepherd’s hooks; (i) benches, fencing, edging, borders, or enclosures; (j) mulch, gravel, shells, or stones not supplied or approved by Ascend; and (k) any item that interferes with mowing, burning, seeding, habitat restoration, access, or safety. Unauthorized items may be removed, discarded, or relocated by Ascend at any time without notice and without liability.

22. Plantings and Restoration

Ascend may seed, mow, burn, cut, trim, restore, remove, or replant any area of the cemetery as necessary for natural habitat restoration, habitat management, access, safety, or cemetery operations. Ascend shall periodically update its Ecological Impact Assessment, including its property baseline, sensitive-area analysis, and plant inventory, to assess habitat conditions over time. Only native plantings expressly approved by Ascend may be introduced onto the property. Unauthorized plantings may be removed without notice. Interment areas may become visually naturalized over time and may not remain distinct through maintained turf, edging, ornamental plantings, or other conventional cemetery treatments.

23. Prescribed Fire and Stewardship Operations

Ascend expressly reserves the right to use prescribed fire, invasive-species treatment using targeted, non-toxic methods consistent with integrated pest management, mowing, herbaceous management, woody removal, reseeding, erosion-control work, drainage work, and other ecological management practices. Sections of the property may be closed temporarily before, during, or after such operations. Ascend shall not be liable for changes to the appearance of a grave, marker, or memorial setting resulting from lawful stewardship operations or natural ecological processes.

24. Disinterment and Removal

Because of natural burial methods and biodegradable materials, disinterment may be difficult, incomplete, hazardous, or impossible after decomposition has begun. Disinterment, disinurnment, or removal of remains shall be allowed only as permitted by applicable law and Ascend’s rules, and only after receipt of any required application, order, permit, authorizing documentation, and advance payment of all costs. Ascend reserves the right to correct interment errors in accordance with applicable law and cemetery procedures.

25. Right to Correct Errors

Ascend reserves the right to correct any error involving description, transfer, recording, location, dimensions, boundaries, interment, memorial placement, or other administrative or operational matter. If an error is discovered, Ascend may take such corrective action as it deems reasonably necessary and lawful, including re-marking, re-mapping, resetting markers, or taking action consistent with Ohio law governing disinterment and correction of interment errors.

26. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Ascend shall not be liable for loss, damage, delay, nonperformance, or emotional distress arising from or related to: (a) weather; (b) natural conditions; (c) wildlife; (d) insects; (e) vandalism; (f) theft; (g) acts of third parties; (h) force majeure events; (i) prescribed burns or other stewardship operations; (j) natural decomposition; (k) fading, settling, erosion, or vegetative change; (l) reliance on documents or instructions reasonably believed to be genuine; and (m) delays caused by legal disputes, incomplete documentation, or unsafe conditions.

27. Indemnification

Each purchaser, rights holder, visitor, contractor, and service provider shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Ascend and its owners, managers, employees, agents, contractors, and volunteers from and against claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorney fees, arising from that person’s acts, omissions, materials, conduct, breach of these Rules, or unauthorized activity on the property.

28. No Guarantee of Appearance

Ascend does not guarantee perpetual visual condition, lawn-like maintenance, ornamental appearance, uninterrupted accessibility to every point of the property, or the continuing visibility of any grave depression, planting, or memorial setting. The cemetery is intentionally managed for restoration to native woodland, and other natural habitat of the region, not as a conventional mowed lawn cemetery.

29. Severability

If any provision of these Rules is determined to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

30. Amendments

Ascend may amend these Rules at any time; provided, however, that no amendment shall permit embalming with toxic chemicals, vaults or outer burial containers, non-biodegradable burial containers or materials, or any other practice inconsistent with the Green Burial Council Cemetery Certification Standards for Natural Burial Grounds or with the Conservation Instruments. The version currently in effect shall govern future access, services, and use of the property, subject to applicable law and to the Conservation Instruments.

Need these Rules in another format, such as large print? Call (330) 681-0008 or email ascendburial@gmail.com.