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30 <br /> The Cemetery provides grave sites for traditional as well as cremation burials. Per Jewish <br /> tradition, the use of chemical embalming fluids prior to interment is prohibited, and the Cemetery <br /> requires all caskets or cremation containers to be made of biodegradable materials. The <br /> enclosure of such containers in any type of vault or liner is prohibited; that is, all biodegradable <br /> caskets or cremation containers are placed directly into the ground and backfilled with three to <br /> four feet of soil. As such, the burial practices are environmentally benign and conform to many <br /> features of the "green burial" movement, which is becoming popular in the United States. <br /> An average of approximately 10 funerals take place each year. Graves are prepared with a light <br /> duty excavator a day before or the day of burial. Services are conducted during daylight hours <br /> without electronic amplification and typically last for about 45 to 60 minutes. The number of <br /> attendees varies, but generally ranges from 20 to 50 people arriving in 10 to 30 vehicles (not in <br /> a funeral procession), which park along one side of the looped driveway. Open graves are <br /> backfilled immediately after a service and then groomed as needed to manage the natural <br /> settling that occurs as fresh graves heal over a period of weeks or months. <br /> Routine and special maintenance of the Cemetery property is provided by contractors, who <br /> typically arrive in a pickup truck towing a small trailer with mowing and other lawncare <br /> equipment. <br /> Cemetery operations have been conducted in this manner since it opened in 1983 and are not <br /> expected to change with the proposed addition of new grave sites. <br /> 2 <br />