Catching the Snow with Living Snow Fences Chapter One: Living Snow Fences - A Low-cost Solution
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Minnesota's local units of government spent an estimated $215 million on snowplowing during the winter of 1996-97. Many snow drifting problems occur in the same place year after year, creating huge costs (and higher taxes) for snow removal, reduced commerce, and lost productivity. Fortunately, there is a low-cost solution to problems from drifting snow-living snow fences. Living snow fences are designed plantings of trees, shrubs, and/or native grasses located short distances upwind of roads, ditches, homes, farmsteads, communities, or other important facilities. Strategically placed, these living barriers trap and control blowing and drifting snow to keep it from disrupting the normal functioning of these facilities. Perhaps most importantly, snow-clogged roads mean that rural people and travelers may not have access to emergency services for long periods, a dangerous situation during severe weather.

The barrage of storms that, at times, closed down part of Minnesota brought waves of misery. Fierce winds, heavy snows and dangerously low temperatures closed roads, knocked out power lines, isolated communities, and generally disrupted life in the western half of the state. Residents struggled against high winds, drifts that towered over roads and windchills that dropped to -70¡F. In open areas roads were often plugged by drifting snow minutes after they were plowed.

In their efforts to combat the storms' effects, Mn/DOT people worked thousands of hours of overtime dispatching crews, repairing equipment and making decisions needed to support the snowplow operators who squared off with the storms' intense energies. Acts of heroism became common and common tasks often required heroic efforts.

Here are just a few of those heroic efforts.

The most notable rescue under storm conditions may have been clearing the way for a specially equipped ambulance from Children's Hospital in Minneapolis to Osakis and then back to Minneapolis. Hospital officials decided to use the ambulance to reach a newborn child needing immediate care because their helicopter could not fly the 300-plus mile mission due to extremely poor weather conditions.

Will Otte and Ben Bielke from Mn/DOT's Sauk Centre Truck Station used the 10-ton Oshkosh plow to clear a path on Interstate 94 which was closed in the early morning darkness from Sauk Centre to Alexandria. Bob Brown, from Mn/DOT's Alexandria Truck Station, then escorted the ambulance to Osakis and cleared a path for its return to Alexandria. Al Sauer, Mn/DOT's Sauk Centre Truck Station, guided the ambulance from Alexandria to Sauk Centre where the freeway was open.

Jeff Ellingsworth, ambulance dispatcher for Health East, says help from the Mn/DOT plow operators was crucial to the child's survival. "They were the true heroes out there today; we couldn't have done it without them," he adds. (Mn/DOT News 1/23/97)

Mn/DOT's Ivanhoe Truck Station responded to a request for help from the Lincoln County Sheriff to reach two people stranded along TH 19 west of Ivanhoe. As they drove through the darkness, the deputy received a call about a possible heart attack victim who needed assistance on the other side of town. They reversed their route, stopping at the shop to warm the snowplow's brakes and add a V-plow. At one point, says Sheriff Jack Vizecky, one of the Mn/DOT snow plow operators had to shine a flashlight at a huge drift so the other snow plow operator could see where to hit the drift with the plow so the truck wouldn't slide into the ditch. Unfortunately, by the time the snow plow and ambulance reached the victim he had died from the heart attack. After leading the ambulance back to the hospital, the crew and sheriff headed out again in the darkness to rescue the stranded motorists and safely transport them back to the hospital. (Mn/DOT News 1/23/97)

Routine trips that ordinarily take only 2 to 5 minutes can take as much as two hours during snow storm events. One emergency run made by Mn/DOT snow plow operators picking up a nurse-anaesthetist who lives two miles from the hospital in Montevideo took about two hours. (Mn/DOT News February 5, 1996)

During one blinding snow storm, three highway maintenance workers from the Breckenridge Truck Station ventured onto Trunk Highway 75 with two snowplows and a school bus to reach people whose tour bus was stranded, as well as a pregnant motorist who called for help on a cellular phone. Visibility was zero and one of the guys had to get out and lead the way on foot. They found the bus and transferred the passengers to the school bus. Their initial efforts to find the pregnant woman failed, but continued searching turned up the woman and a companion plus two other people who also were stranded nearby. (Mn/DOT News January 23, 1997)

Calculating the human cost of storms is not possible but can be gauged in the effort put forth by thousands of people. Mn/DOT crews often worked to the point of exhaustion or beyond. Families of hundreds of Mn/DOT employees had to constantly rearrange their schedules and priorities. Snowplow crews often slept in their truck stations or at headquarter buildings to maximize the hours that they could rest. Supervisors stayed at their posts sometimes for days to ensure that operations continued as needed. (Mn/DOT News February 3, 1997)

The Economic Benefit of Structural and Living Snow Fences

A 10-year study on Interstate 80 in Wyoming showed that structural snow fences reduced snow removal costs by one-third to one-half. Just the savings in property damage due to reduced accidents could amortize the initial cost of fences in 15 years. Benefit-to-cost ratios for structural snow fences, based only on reduced snow removal costs, typically range from 10:1 to 35:1. Living snow fences are even more cost-effective than structural fences because the cost of installing and maintaining them is about one-third that of structural fences and they last longer.

Analysis of several living snow fences proposed by five Mn/DOT district offices and for Soil and Water Conservation Districts in northwestern, western, and southern Minnesota yielded benefit/cost ratios ranging from 2:1 to 36:1, with an average of 17:1. These analyses used conservative assumptions, including average winter conditions (32" of snowfall) and $1/ton for snow removal costs (severe storms can cost up to $3/ton for snow removal). Only benefits related to snow removal costs were included in the evaluations. Results would be even more favorable if economic benefits from avoiding road closures and reducing accidents were included. Benefits would further increase greatly if all the above factors were evaluated for severe winters.

In addition to reducing snow removal costs, living snow fences have these benefits:

• improving driver visibility and safety, reducing accidents
• preventing drifts on farmyards and communities
• enhancing the appearance of roadsides and communities
• providing wildlife habitat
• reducing energy costs for heating and feed costs for livestock
• increasing crop yields for crops growing in areas protected from wind by 10 percent or more, especially in dry years
• reducing pavement maintenance costs
• sequestering carbon to help reduce atmospheric CO₂
• reducing spring-time flooding

Produced by Communication and Educational Technology Services, University of Minnesota Extension.

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