In 2000, after retiring as a lifetime Civil Servant Forester for the State of Hessen, I first learned about the EcoEternity Forest concept.  I decided that I wanted to be a part of the EcoEternity concept. As a keen observer of German culture, for some time I had recognized that the old, traditional rituals of grieving and mourning no longer met the psychological needs of a large part of the populace .

When the first EcoEternity Forest was established in November 2001 in my former forest responsibility, Reinhardswald (a 50,000 acre forest), I was privileged to see the sweeping changes in public acceptance of new ways of interment and the positive psychological impact these changes had on people.

From 2001 to 2007, as a life time forester and true lover of nature, I guided tours of over 200 groups through the Reinhardswald EcoEternity forest. Many people were experiencing times of great personal sadness. I was able to witness the profound positive impact that the beauty, majesty, and wonder of the forest had on these people.  It was a very satisfying and rewarding experience to be part of this positive psychological change in the people on my tours.

Now people had interment choices that were ecologically friendly, they had greater freedom of choice, and they could directly engage family and friends in a highly personal decision. The EcoEternity concept just took off not only within my family and my home town but across Germany.