Management of blowing snow on sagebrush rangelands

David L. Sturges; Ronald D. Tabler

ABSTRACT:

In one of three case studies on the design and performance of snow retention, snow fencing, and snow harvesting treatments, crested wheatgrass planted in strips doubled snow accumulation on low-growing sagebrush rangeland. In a second case study, snow fencing increased the water available to fill an irrigation reservoir by 54 cubic meters per meter of fence length. In a third case study, sagebrush was removed from the windward side of a ridge to create a snowdrift on the leeward side as a means of recharging a livestock pond. This treatment increased snow transport by 24 cubic meters per meter of ridge length. Evaporation, soil water recharge, and other losses of melt water are important considerations in designing snow management projects.

Footnotes

David L. Sturges is a research forester and Ronald D. Tabler is a hydrologist with the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Laramie, Wyoming 82070, in cooperation with the University of Wyoming (station headquarters at Fort Collins in cooperation with Colorado State University). This research was supported in part by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Wyoming State Highway Department.
Copyright 1981 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

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