Kestrel Land Trust and Green Burial Massachusetts were looking to find a property to establish a conservation cemetery (green burial) in western and/or central Massachusetts. GZA was tasked to conduct a suitability analysis for the conservation cemetery and create a web application to view the results. The GIS analysis was conducted across five counties (Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire) totaling 668,639 land parcels. Using publicly available GIS data, the analysis included identifying criteria for the cemetery site prioritization and used the criteria to establish a baseline and to exclude properties. The selected properties were then ranked based on feasibility characteristics and a suitability score was calculated. A digital web experience application (Experience Builder) was created to showcase the suitability results and allow the clients to view and filter the remaining properties for conservation cemetery site selection. The presentation will provide an overview of the project process, challenges we faced, and take aways.
