Development of Site Evaluation Criteria for Woodland Burial Grounds

The demand for National Woodland Burial Grounds is expected to increase as interest in natural burial, including woodland burial, is increasing. This study was performed to provide evaluation criteria applying weighting factors to the evaluation for location selection. Through literature review, location selection evaluation factors for forest facilities, similar to forest welfare facilities, were reviewed and analyzed. As a result of the analysis, 74 preliminary evaluation criteria were selected. Based on the results, three expert groups (public servants in central and local governments and other public agencies in charge of forest welfare facility, related field researchers, and civil experts) reviewed the preliminary evaluation factors. Evaluation factors were classified into two categories, 6 sub-categories, and 22 segments. The selected evaluation factors were layered for the second preference survey. They were classified into Forest Environment and Human Environment, and those categories were further classified into three categories. Then they were further classified into segments. After segmentation, the experts who participated in the first survey checked the differences in the significance of the layered factors by utilizing AHP. The site evaluation criteria table was prepared using the evaluation criteria and the significance of each layer. In order to apply it to the candidate sites, 10 sites including the existing National Woodland Burial Grounds and 9 candidate sites considered in the previous studies were compared and analyzed including Ulju County Ulsan City, Suncheon City Jeollanam-do and Janggun-myeon Sejeong City.