Proposed Napa County 'green' cemetery generates opposition
A proposed "green" cemetery - if it can gain Napa County approval - could over several decades see more people buried than live in the Angwin area where it would be located.
Opponents seek to kill the project.
Eternal Preserves Holdings LLC wants to establish Howell Mountain Eternal Preserve on 109 acres at 1225 Howell Mountain Road. A county report said eight internment areas totaling 16 acres would have room for up to 17,340 full-body burials and 35,530 plots for cremated remains.
For context, neighboring Angwin in the hills northeast of St. Helena has about 3,500 residents.
Cemetery officials said they don't intend to hit those maximums. A sister "green" cemetery in Placer County called Morgan Oaks Eternal Preserve had 41 burials last year.
The deceased at green cemeteries are buried in biodegradable coffins or shrouds, with no embalming. Or their ashes are scattered or buried in urns.
"The body has the ability to decompose quickly and provide nutrients to the soil, improve the soil and really enhance the natural surroundings," said Susan Lapsley, a representative for Howell Mountain Eternal Preserve.
Howell Mountain Eternal Preserve is to have a 509-square-foot welcome center and 31 parking spaces. Trails totaling about a mile and a half are to go the burial areas. An offsite office is to be in St. Helena.
More three dozen people wrote to the county opposing the project. Concerns ranged from the decomposing bodies releasing leachates and affecting groundwater, to bears and feral pigs digging up graves, to fears of traffic dangers on Howell Mountain Road.
On June 17, the Napa County Planning Commission held a hearing on Howell Mountain Eternal Preserve and continued the matter to a date to be announced.
The commission heard from people concerned about the project, both at the meeting and through correspondences.
"Putting thousands of bodies directly in the upper Burton Creek watershed canyon is a terrifying prospect for those of us who rely entirely on local wells and springs for our drinking water," Bucky Swisher of Angwin wrote.
Attorney Thomas Carey represents some of the neighbors. He told the commission he knew of no geological study analyzing how the project would affect the groundwater spring system.
"What's a bit shocking to me, having been around as long as I have, is the foundational documents that would undergird a finding of 'no significant effect' on the environment simply do not exist in the record," Carey said.
Lapsley said natural burials work in harmony with natural ecological systems. Human remains, like wildlife remains and plant matter, decompose into organic compounds already present in the environment.
The county requires a minimum 100-foot setback from streams, creeks, ponds, lakes, wells and springs, she said.
Some residents noted the entryway is near a sharp turn on steep Howell Mountain Road. At the very least, they didn't want the county to grant an exception to the applicant's request to avoid adding a left-turn lane.
"The turn-lane thing is a no-brainer," Angwin resident Mike Hackett said, adding there would be deaths on the road without one.
Opponents said owners of the proposed cemetery failed to properly evaluate the historical significance of two cabins that are to be demolished.
The cabins were owned by William Bade, who worked with John Muir at the Sierra Club and published notes and letters by the famous environmentalist after Muir's death. Bade worked as an archeologist in the Middle East before his death from a stroke in 1935.
Eileen Barrow and Associates concluded the cabins don't meet criteria for inclusion on the California Register of Historic Resources. Among the reasons is that Bade's work with the Sierra Club and Muir took place before he bought the Howell Mountain Road property.
Angwin resident Kellie Anderson wrote that the study is "undeniably biased in its diminution of the historic significance of these cabins and the importance of their builder/owner William Frederic Bade and his contribution to the national conservation movement."
Lapsley said that "burial is a necessary function in every community" and that "this model avoids chemicals, preserves land and minimizes development."
Planning Commissioner Molly Moran Williams said she supports the green burial idea. But she wanted to see more data on the site's geological and hydrological conditions.
"There's no way for me personally to make that determination today," she said.
Commissioner Pete Richmond said he couldn't support a conservation regulations exception. The request was made to grade slopes to reach interment sites.
"This project has the potential to disturb far more ground than if a vineyard was going to go in the site," he said.
Commissioner Walter Brooks said not having a left-hand turn lane would be a "showstopper" for him.
"These huge numbers around how many people could be buried here and what the leachate's like and what's going on – I'd like to see some hard numbers on that," Brooks said.
Perhaps there would be a limit of so many burials per acre per year, Brooks said. The commission hasn't dealt with anything like this before, he added.
Howell Mountain Eternal Preserve, if it secures county approval, wouldn't be the only green burial area in Napa County. Tulocay Cemetery in the city of Napa has the Cayetano Natural Burial Ground.
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This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 6:08 PM.