Going Green: Living Snow Fence
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You may not even realize why these shrub willows exist along the roadside. Yes, they are a part of nature, but they've been planted along specific roadways for a reason: to keep the blowing snow that swirls throughout open fields off the roadways.
This row of fast-growing shrubs is better known as a living snow fence and they can be found in various locations throughout the state. South of Buffalo on 219, alongside Route 30 in the Catskills and bordering I-81 in Central New York.
"Just north of the Tully exit going south on 81 on the west side, and then again just south of the Preble exit on 81. There's actually a series of five sections of willow living snow fence that are five or six years old,” said Timothy Volk, SUNY-ESF Senior Research Associate.
You've likely seen your share of the traditional bright orange snow fences, but now New York State is teaming up with SUNY-ESF to plant shrub willows instead.
The idea is to use an earth-friendly life form to help the environment and to save New York State time and money.
"It costs more to put a living snow fence in the ground than to put up a plastic snow fence, but if you put it in the ground once, it's good for 20 or 30 years,” said Volk.
Researchers at SUNY-ESF are working with the DOT to train staff on how to plant and maintain the willows. Once they're planted, they will need to be cut back; a process that helps them flourish and grow quickly.
"Typically what we do then is we cut it down. It seems a little counter-intuitive sometimes, but when they grow the first year, you may only have two to four stems coming out of this piece of plant material. And you need more. You want a lot of stems to get the density to act as a snow fence, so when we cut this back at the end of the first growing season, if it had two to four stems the first year, the next year it may have eight to 15 stems,” said Volk. "It grows very quickly, so when you put in a willow living snow fence, within two years it will start functioning. Other plants may take ten or 20 years before they start functioning.”
While the bright orange snow stoppers will still make their appearance every winter, it's likely we'll see less and less of them as living snow fences take their place.
About Going Green:
Going Green is produced in cooperation with the College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Learn more about SUNY ESF by visiting their website, esf.edu.