The Sanctuary

The Blazing Star Sanctuary is a conservation cemetery, set aside for green burials while also being managed as a nature sanctuary. This beautiful, natural area is preserved forever in honor of those who are laid to rest within its grounds.

a Place of Remembrance

The sanctuary is a newly restored native prairie habitat, planted with native grasses and wildflowers in the fall of 2025. We welcome you to follow along on our interactive Chronolog page as we continue to restore the prairie. Natural surface paths will soon meander through the cemetery’s grasslands. Mowed paths are created for graveside services.

Burial plots are widely spaced, with graves located in deference to the ecological features of the land. Small, in-ground grave markers are used, allowing for the prairie to remain open and natural. Visitors are able to easily locate a burial site through our interactive preserve map and perpetual memorial pages.

Green Burials

All burials in the conservation cemetery are prepared in accordance with the Green Burial Council natural methods for body preparation and interment, allowing all who are laid to rest to be surrounded by life as they return peacefully to the earth.

Cremated remains may also be interred at the sanctuary.

The Coastal Prairie: an imperiled ecosystem

Today, the tallgrass prairie is the most endangered ecosystem in the world. It is estimated that less than 1% of the original 20 million acres of tallgrass prairie within Texas remains, with another 15 to 20% in a degraded but restorable state. These ranges apply to the Katy Prairie as well.

The Gulf Coast of Texas was once covered by unending swaths of prairies and marshes extending out to the Gulf of Mexico. When European settlers began arriving in the 1820s, over 90% of the state was rangeland. These lands were productive for agriculture and then ripe for industrial and urban development as populations grew.

The Greater Houston region is no exception to this evolution. Our relatively young city has experienced rapid change and growth, resulting in the conversion of prairies, farms, and fields into developed lands, consuming thousands of acres of the coastal prairie.

In an effort to safeguard this important ecosystem, the Coastal Prairie Conservancy works toward four primary goals:

• increasing protected coastal prairie lands;

• restoring and enhancing conserved lands;

• collaborating with other organizations to ensure a vibrant and resilient community;

• connecting the public with nature through public access, educational programming, and outreach.

Nature’s Burial is now a vital part of our mission across all four of these goals.

The land that is protected as the Blazing Star Sanctuary was once virgin prairie. For the last several hundred years, it has been used by several generations of Texans for cattle grazing and crop production. Nonnative forage grasses and crops came to dominate the landscape. Natural fires and nutrient cycles were suppressed. Native wildlife species disappeared. Today, we are bringing this prairie ecosystem back to life. The cover crops have enriched the soil. The wetlands are providing valuable fresh water habitat. Wildlife are reappearing. Birds are nesting. Native plants and their pollinators are returning.