Last summer, while driving through the vast open spaces
surrounding Denver International Airport (DIA), I was impressed
by the equally vast array of snow fences, which seemed to
stretch for miles. (Later, after driving up 14,200 foot Pike’s
Peak — believe it or not — I caught a shot of an isolated snow
shower during late summer). After seeing so many miles of snow
fences, I began to wonder whether these decidedly low-tech, old-
fashioned structures were as valuable today, in this age of
technology, as they were in the past. Although I knew the answer
would be “yes” — otherwise they wouldn’t still be built — I
wanted to investigate the cost-benefit ratio of the fences in
serious “snow country.” But before expanding on the present-day
utility of snow fences, it might be worthwhile to provide a
brief history of how snow-clearing efforts evolved in the U.S.
Snow fences are actually an ancient technology. Archaeologists
have discovered what they believe is a 20-foot section of “snow
fencing” near Stonehenge (circa