It's common for people to take a relative's ashes out to a favored spot and scatter them over the land or in a river. But, is it legal? I read an article that puts a lot of it in question. Each state has it's own rules. The BLM says that scattering on their land is subject to state law. The Forest Service prohibits it, saying "placing cremains creates a “perpetual occupancy,” and may be “incompatible with the purposes for which the lands are managed." Some Nat. parks allow it but only with a special permit.
Putting them in water is usually prohibited even when scattering on land is allowed. The US Clean Water Act prohibits ashes from being put in any water less than 3 nautical miles from any land. Permits are required almost everywhere.
Idaho is quite liberal. There are no state rules or permits required. Only the rules imposed by the controller of the land apply. Ashes can be scattered by plane as long as the urn isn't tossed out, too. I don't know if loading the ashes in shotgun shells qualifies as aerial scattering. Since the BLM goes by state law and Idaho has no applicable state laws, ashes can be scattered all over southern, ID. We also have 20 million acres of Nat. Forest where it's prohibited according to what I've read.
Scattering on private land is legal in most places with the landowners permission. Whether a permit is required is up to the state.
After all is said, do they really think that all the rules and permitting is going to keep a family from scattering Grandpa over his favorite fishing stream? Not likely. All the rules are totally unenforceable and I'll bet that 99% of them are ignored. How would the USFS determine that a bag of ashes is 'perpetually occupying' the forest if they can't find the ashes or prove who they belonged to if they did find them?
