06 Oct Exploring Conservation, Legacy, and a Different Way to Remember
Business and Professional Women recently welcomed Laura Starkey, Executive Director of Heartwood Preserve Conservation Cemetery, for a fascinating and thought-provoking luncheon exploring a very different approach to burial—one that brings together conservation, community, and our connection to the natural environment.
What if a final resting place could also help preserve Florida’s natural beauty for generations to come? Laura shared the story behind Heartwood Preserve, Florida’s first conservation cemetery, and described how this innovative approach offers an alternative to traditional burial while protecting and restoring native habitat.
Her presentation provided an inspiring look at the mission of Heartwood Preserve and the growing conservation burial movement, encouraging attendees to think differently about death, remembrance, sustainability, and the ways we can leave a meaningful legacy while preserving something beautiful for those who come after us.
Laura Starkey’s personal connection to the land made her story especially compelling. A third-generation Floridian, Laura was born into a cattle-ranching family and raised on the very land that Heartwood Preserve now occupies. She earned a B.A. in music from Maryville College in Tennessee and an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from USF Tampa. Her career and interests took her far beyond Florida, including work as a community organizer in North Carolina, teaching English as a Second Language to immigrant adults in Charlotte, and traveling throughout Africa and Latin America. From 1998 to 1999, she lived in the Amazon region of Ecuador, where she taught high school English.
After returning to Florida, Laura settled on a beautiful piece of land along the Anclote River, not far from where she grew up. In 2004, she left teaching to work with her father’s eco-tour business, Jay B. Starkey’s Flatwoods Adventures, located on the family ranch. Two years later, she became Director of Conservation Lands, managing more than 1,000 acres of woods on Starkey Ranch.
It was during those years that Laura developed a deep interest in finding ways to conserve natural lands while sharing the beauty of Florida’s native landscapes with residents and visitors. A workshop at a national land conservation conference introduced her to the concept of conservation burial and planted the seed that would eventually become Heartwood Preserve. Over the following years, that idea grew into a business plan—and ultimately became a reality.
Laura’s presentation offered BPW members a unique perspective on sustainability, conservation, and legacy, while demonstrating how something as personal as end-of-life planning can also contribute to the preservation of Florida’s natural environment.
It was an engaging conversation that connected us to the land, challenged us to think differently about remembrance, and reminded us that a lasting legacy can take many forms.