Terrafinity Conservation Cemeteries

Our
Story.

"Every root, every breath of wind across our land, carries his legacy — and the promise that death can return to its rightful place in the circle of life."

Being raised on a small farm in Virginia, the rhythm of life was shaped by the land — the changing light, the soil beneath our hands, the quiet labor of growing things. From an early age, I learned that the Earth gives and receives in equal measure, and that tending to it is both work and worship.

My father, Carl, taught me most of what I know about that balance. He was a man of both enterprise and stewardship — deeply engaged in business, conservation, and permaculture long before most people spoke of such things in the same breath.

When I went on to study at the University of Florida, my work with Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery opened a door to something that felt ancient and inevitable: returning to the land in death as we belong to it in life. I shared the idea with my father — how it could be a final act of ecological reciprocity, where each resting place restores soil, nourishes life, and protects wild land for generations to come. He understood immediately.

"Plant me in the prairie."

— Carl, one week before passing, 2021

It was both a request and a benediction — a wish to be part of the cycle he had always honored. His final vision was to create a natural burial ground, a living landscape of renewal rather than permanence. Terrafinity exists because of that wish.

Every root, every breath of wind across our land, carries his legacy — and the promise that death can return to its rightful place in the circle of life. Through Terrafinity, we continue the work he began: healing the Earth, honoring those we love, and ensuring that what we leave behind sustains what comes next.

Our Leadership

Erica Carlsson

Erica Carlsson

Founder & Principal

Erica Carlsson grew up on a small farm in Virginia, where the land taught her everything — that the Earth gives and receives in equal measure, and that tending to it is both work and worship.

That early rootedness shaped a career spent at the intersection of conservation, ecological restoration, and community leadership — mapping invasive species, restoring urban forests, directing large-scale green infrastructure, and leading conservation corps in the work of stewarding wild land.

When her father Carl asked to be "planted in the prairie," Erica founded Terrafinity Conservation Cemeteries. It was her answer to a question she had been living her whole life: how do we leave the land stronger than we found it? Through Terrafinity and Carlsson Land Advisory, she partners with landowners and land trusts to make permanent protection not just possible, but financially sustainable.

Land Conservation Ecological Restoration Conservation Easements Urban Forestry Natural Burial

Ready to keep your land whole?

Whether you're a landowner, a land trust, or a conservation board, we'd love to start a conversation.