A living memorial for your pet in Brookings
About 780 dogs and cats are lost in Brookings each year, by our estimate. If you'd like your pet's ashes to grow into a tree or return to the water, this page covers the soil, the season and the cost.
- Options for renters and apartments
- Water release rules in plain words
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Brookings, South Dakota
Planning a greener goodbye in Brookings
McCrory Gardens, the public garden and arboretum at SDSU, is a peaceful place many Brookings families visit year-round. It can inspire a memorial at home: a hardy lilac, a bed of prairie perennials, or a tree chosen to survive a northern winter. Ask your provider whether the ashes can go straight into planting soil or should be blended with compost first.
Outdoor memorials in Brookings must stand up to extreme cold. Granite and cast bronze last through years of freeze and thaw, while inside the house, an urn, a framed nose or paw print, or a small pendant keeps your pet close. Students who expect to move after graduation often lean toward something light enough to pack in a suitcase or carry on a plane.
Getting a bio urn in Brookings is mostly a matter of ordering online, but getting the soil right is a local job. Ask a nursery or your county extension office whether the ground is chalky, clay or sandy. Clay holds salts near the roots and drains poorly, so dig a wider hole and mix in more compost. Sandy soil drains well but holds little, so water the young tree more often in its first summers.
With roughly 25,355 residents, Brookings is the 4th-largest of the 10 South Dakota communities we cover. Sioux Falls, roughly 52 miles off, is the closest larger centre, and a share of the providers who cover Brookings run from there.
The closest communities we cover are Watertown (46 miles), Sioux Falls (53 miles, a larger centre) and Huron (70 miles). Providers serving those towns often travel to Brookings too, so it can be worth asking them for a quote.
Our estimate
9,350
Brookings: dog- or cat-owning households, our estimate
How we calculated this
25,355 ÷ 2.5 = 10,142 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 9,350. Homes are counted once however many pets they keep.
Our estimate
780
Estimated dog and cat losses in Brookings each year
How we calculated this
9,350 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 780 a year. A floor, not a ceiling.
53%[1]
53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households.
12.69 years[2]
US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years.
39%[3]
39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households.
11.18 years[4]
US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years.
The numbers above come from Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science and American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, if you'd like to read the original sources.
What local attitudes to cremation mean in South Dakota
The human cremation rate in South Dakota sits around 53.2%[5], so many families have a foot in both camps, and generations can disagree. Grandparents may expect a grave in the yard; younger relatives may want ashes they can take with them. Talking it through before the vet asks you to choose saves a hard conversation on a hard day. A tree over buried ashes often satisfies both sides.
NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) is where the South Dakota figure comes from. It counts people; we use it because attitudes to cremating a pet in Brookings tend to follow attitudes to cremation generally.
Seasons, soil and weather for a memorial in Brookings
In places like Brookings, driveways and sidewalks are often salted in January, February, March, November and December. Ashes already add sodium to the soil, and road salt splashed onto the same bed doubles the load. Keep a memorial planting well back from salted paths and the edge of the road, and away from where snow gets piled. A spot uphill from the drive is better than one downhill of it.
Cold winters narrow the choice of tree in Brookings, where January lows average about 4°F. Pick species that are fully hardy locally: native trees, or ornamentals a nearby nursery rates for your zone. A tender tree from a warmer region may survive one mild winter and die in the next. Hardy flowering shrubs are a good fallback if you have less space.
Budgeting for a living memorial in Brookings
For a medium-size dog, published private aquamation prices at two US providers sit around $200–$259[6], and one Arizona provider's individual aquamation price of $75–$349[7] includes an urn, nameplate and ink paw print. Whether a Brookings provider bundles extras like that makes a real difference when you compare. Add the bio urn or tree separately, and use the planner below to see the total.
The full price table by product is on our South Dakota page, and the services page explains what each option includes.
Free tool
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Rules worth knowing in South Dakota before you scatter
Rules about ashes were mostly written for people, and pet ashes often sit in a grey area. That's a reason to ask, not a reason to assume. On land you own, planting or burying ashes is generally fine. Anywhere else in South Dakota, from parks to beaches to a friend's field, the land manager or owner decides, so ask first.
South Dakota keeps an official directory of local governments; use it to reach the county or city office that covers Brookings.
The rules that apply across South Dakota (home burial, scattering and who oversees pet cremation) are summarized on our South Dakota page. Brookings may add its own conditions, so check with the city or county before digging.
Planting a memorial in Brookings, step by step
- If the ashes have been on a shelf for years, planting is still an option. Ashes don't degrade with age, so nothing has been missed.
- Open the container carefully somewhere sheltered from wind, and check whether the ashes are in a sealed bag inside.
- Weigh or measure what you have, and put the figure into our urn size calculator to find a planting or water urn of the right capacity.
- Decide whether to keep any back. After years at home, some families like to plant most of the ashes and keep a spoonful.
- Pick a date that carries meaning, such as the anniversary or your pet's birthday, and invite anyone who knew them.
- Treat the old urn kindly afterwards. Many people reuse a wooden or ceramic urn as a plant pot or keepsake box.
Keeping your pet's memory growing in Brookings
The Big Sioux River runs along the west side of Brookings, and its parks and trails are part of many residents' routines. Some remember a pet by returning to a favorite riverside bench on an anniversary or taking a photo there each season. Before scattering ashes on public land or in the river, ask the city or county which areas are open for that.
or compare your instinct with the poll results, run the numbers with the free planning tools, Every option Brookings families choose between is on the services page, browse in-depth guides or recent articles. More local pages: Aberdeen, Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Watertown, the South Dakota overview and every city in the United States.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
If water cremation (aquamation) were offered near you, would you choose it?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Would you consider releasing your pet's ashes in water?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Free tools to help you plan
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Memorial tree finder
Pick a tree for a planting urn that suits your climate, space and pet.
Aftercare options compared
Compare private, communal and water cremation with burial on cost, timing and what comes home.
Questions people ask
How does Brookings's weather affect pet aftercare?
July is the hottest month in Brookings, with average highs around 81°F, so prompt collection matters most then. Average lows drop below freezing in January, February, March, November and December, which can make digging a grave hard until spring.
Where are the providers that serve Brookings actually based?
Some are local, and some run from Sioux Falls, about 52 miles away. That is normal for a town this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for Brookings and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
How many pet owners live in Brookings?
By our estimate, about 9,350 households in Brookings have at least one dog or cat, and around 780 are lost each year. We calculate this from the city's population of about 25,355, the average household size and national ownership and lifespan figures, so treat it as a floor rather than an exact count.
Which nearby towns can I compare with Brookings?
The closest communities we cover are Watertown (about 46 miles), Sioux Falls (about 53 miles) and Huron (about 70 miles). Providers based in those places often serve Brookings too. Ask each one for a written total that includes collection, so the distance is priced in.
Is it safe to plant a fruit tree with my pet's ashes?
Cremated remains are mostly bone minerals, and once they're thoroughly blended into plenty of compost and garden soil, many gardeners grow fruit trees over them. The high pH and salt are the real concern for the tree, so dilute generously and test the pH. If eating fruit from the memorial feels wrong to anyone in your family, choose an ornamental tree instead.
Do bio urns work with ashes from flame cremation?
Yes. A bio urn works with ashes from flame cremation or water cremation. Both leave mineral-rich, alkaline ash, so the soil advice is the same either way: dilute the ashes well through compost and soil, let the mix rest if you can, and test the pH before a young tree goes in.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] 53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [2] US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [3] 39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [4] US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [5] The NFDA projected South Dakota's cremation rate at 53.2% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] Private aquamation for a 21–50 lb dog costs about $200–$259 at two posted US price lists. Our estimate: Delaware 10–49 lb $200; A Greener Place 21–50 lb $259. How we calculate.
- [7] A Greener Place in Mesa, Arizona, charges $75–$349 for individual pet aquamation by weight, including an urn, nameplate and ink paw print. A Greener Place Pet Aquamation – Pricing, 2026.
- [8] Each shelter-animal flame cremation emits about 31 kg CO2e on average. Our estimate: 19,000 t CO2e / 607,000 animals. How we calculate.
Get bio urn options for Brookings
Tell us what you need and where you are. We'll reply by email with clear options and prices so you can decide in your own time.