Snowfences?? : Submitted by :Wayne McGregor

I feel the need to respond to two comments posted.
 “Bruce” stated,“A summer resident who is in charge of snow fences and has no clue what winters are like here.”
“Anonymous” stated,”The Wyoming snow fences are a source of great membership disharmony and we should be looking to get rid of them, not build or place more that will create conflict. They were built on a trial basis a few years back and don't really work that well, or any better than just pushing snow into snow snow-fences and just have created havoc including causing a couple of board changes.”
In case you are not familiar with my involvement with snow fences I began this work at the request of the RAC in 2006 because they recognized that plowing snow was a huge recurring cost. The idea was to find some way where a small investment might mitigate that recurring cost. In 2006 we tried a short section of Wyoming snow fence near the Forbes Park Loop just to see if it would trap snow, how much it would cost, and how well it would endure the weathering in Forbes Park. The basic concept worked, however the fence was too short to really impact the snow on Forbes Park Road.
The next year, 2007, we built the 640 ft x 8 ft fence near the Big Lake. In spite of the quote by “Anonymous”, the fence made a huge difference in the snow accumulation on Forbes Park Road. I have before and after photos to prove it. Each year we have continued to put additional snow fences where drifting blocked the roads. The cost of the fences has been kept low by using volunteer labor. In each case the fences have reduced the snow drifting on the roads and extended the time that the roads remained open during blowing snow storms. In each case the fences were placed in accordance to very careful engineering analysis based on Forbes Park data, not some seat of the pants guess work. Although some maintenance is required for the fences, the cost is minimal compared to the cost of building a wall of packed snow 640 feet long and 10 feet high, every snow season. Don’t forget, you can’t build that snow wall until you have enough snow on the ground to push it into a wall. In the meantime snow continues to drift onto the road. You cannot catch the snow and hold it until you gather enough to push around. Also, you can’t push drifting snow around with a blade; the dryness of the snow and the wind combine to blow the snow away from any obstacles, such as a grader blade. It’s like pushing water. The best way to trap blowing snow is create a dead air region to let the snow settle. That is exactly what a snow fence does. It creates dead air so that the snow settles to the ground and stays there, and a snow berm is just a poor snow fence in terms of efficiency per unit height. Ask yourself why CDOT has so many rows of Wyoming fence on La Veta Pass? Why don’t they just build snow berms? Does it not make sense that with their large engineering staff, CDOT would have chosen the lowest cost technique to keep US 160 clear?
It would be helpful if “Anonymous” would be a little more specific about who constitutes the “great membership disharmony”. How many of them live in the back half of the Park during the winter?  If this disharmony is such an issue, let’s talk about it, and see if we can find some common ground.
Each winter since 2006 I have come to Forbes Park to observe the performance of the snow fences and to evaluate the feasibility of improving our road conditions by any means. I have spent many hours out in the field taking measurements and observing the wind currents. While I do not spend the entire winter here, and in spite of what “Bruce” thinks, or says, I believe that I have a “clue” as to where we can best use snow fences, and how to install them. Certainly, I understand that the winters in Forbes Park can be long and brutal. If I could spend more time in the field, I could improve my predictions, but that does not mean that my analysis and designs are as worthless as “Bruce” implies. If anyone else would to take over the task of designing and installing snow fence, I would be happy to step aside immediately.
I believe that you don’t have to live here to be able help improve the living conditions, and to save the Association some money. I spent 30+ years designing and analyzing some of the world’s best combat aircraft. During most of my career I specialized in aerodynamics and the analysis of complex air flow issues. One of my research topics was lightly loaded gas-particle flows, which is exactly the type of flow that describes drifting snow.  During that time, I never thought that I had to be a pilot in order to design the shape of the wing. If we follow “Bruce’s” logic, the only person qualified to design an airplane would be a pilot. For the most part pilots turn out to be very good pilots, but poor aircraft designers.
Elsewhere during the Board meeting the idea of raising the roadbed was mentioned. I fully agree with the basic concept. Proper design of the roadbed is the best answer, but it is very costly and takes a lot of time. I can help with that design process, too. The advantage of a snow fence is that it can be built and in place before the drift season begins this year; you cannot raise the roads beds that quickly.
Another potential snowdrift mitigating technique is a living snow fence, i.e. live trees. They work in some cases, but you have to be able to grow trees where you need them, and it takes at least 8-10 years to produce a productive snow fence. We are trying to grow one on Mathilde.If either of these two individuals would care to discuss this topic based data and not emotion, I would be happy to meet with them.
If the Board does not want more snow fences, that is fine with me, even though I know that they are missing an opportunity to save on road clearing costs, and they are unnecessarily putting people at the back of the Park in health jeopardy. If that is the case, then I will quit wasting my time designing the fences. I would much rather go hiking.