Scattering Cremated Remains

Application Process

To apply for a permission letter, submit an application.

For a scattering of cremated remains permission letter, download the application [50 kb PDF] and email it to us.

For questions, contact our Office of Special Park Uses via email or phone [phone].

Requests cannot be processed until we receive your original application and any required payments.

Policy

The National Park Service normally grants permission to those wishing to scatter human cremated remains within the borders of Yosemite National Park.

To receive permission, complete the application [50 kb PDF]. The application may include your relationship to the deceased (e.g., sister, mother, husband, father, etc.), which you may add in the "proposed activity" field. Application processing may take up to three weeks.

With a letter of authorization, you may scatter human cremated remains with the following conditions:

• The scattering of cremains is accomplished out of the sight of any public use areas including roads, walkways, trails, and parking areas.

• All such activity occurs at least 100 yards from any watercourse or creek bed (running or dry).

• Cremains must be spread over an area large enough that no single portion is accumulated in one place. The cremation identification disc must not be dispensed or left on site during or after scattering activity.

• No marker of any kind is left to commemorate the event.

• The scattering of human remains from the air is prohibited.

• The Yosemite Chapel keeps a Book of Memories and the deceased's name could be entered in that book. Please call the chapel at 209/372-4831 for more information.

• The use of commercial, for profit venture to distribute cremated remains in the park is prohibited.

Yosemite National Park is under federal jurisdiction and is, therefore, sovereign in its lands and not subject to the limitations regarding land use by the State of California. Permission by the National Park Service to scatter cremated remains assumes that necessary permission from the state has been secured for the disposition of cremated remains.

For more information, contact the Office of Special Park Uses at 209/379-1434 or by email.