Only 220 natural burial sites exist in the US despite 60%+ consumer interest

Surveys consistently show that over 60% of Americans are interested in green or natural burial — no embalming, no concrete vault, biodegradable container, body returns to the earth. Yet only approximately 220 natural burial cemeteries exist across the entire United States, and many of those are 'hybrid' sites that merely allow green burial in a section of a conventional cemetery. Thirteen states plus D.C. have zero pure natural burial grounds. The geographic concentration is extreme: the Northeast has 104 sites while the entire Southwest has 14. A family in Phoenix, Tucson, or Las Vegas who wants a green burial for their loved one may need to transport the body hundreds of miles. The reason this shortage persists is a thicket of zoning laws written for conventional cemeteries: some states require paved roads to burial plots, others mandate perimeter fencing, many require large endowment funds for future maintenance (nonsensical for sites intended to become wild meadows or forests), and some mandate embalming or refrigeration after 24 hours. Each of these regulations was designed for the concrete-vault-and-manicured-lawn model and structurally prevents the alternative.