Snow Control Benefits of Shelterbelts

Windblown snow creates problems for rural communities and landowners, livestock and wildlife. Snowdrifts block transportation routes, cause safety concerns for travellers, and increase livestock and wildlife mortality. Properly designed and maintained shelterbelts can lessen these problems and capture snow.

Shelterbelts can reduce the cost of snow removal by managing snow distribution. Reducing mechanical snow control means less labour for operating snow removal equipment as well as fuel savings. Also, because trees store carbon for long periods of time, they reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Effective snow management produces a variety of benefits. Multiple row, multiple species shelterbelts trap snow, provide wildlife habitat, protect soils, sequester carbon and increase biodiversity.

• Farmstead shelterbelts trap blowing snow to prevent buildup in the yard and on driveways. Controlling blowing snow with trees and shrubs can prevent large drifts in the living and working areas of farmsteads, reducing the labour and cost of snow removal.
• Field shelterbelts can be designed to provide uniform snow distribution across a field, or to reduce the formation of deep snow drifts, while moisture trapped in fields can increase crop yields.
• Roadside shelterbelts trap blowing snow and reduce the occurrence of blizzard-like conditions, making for safer winter driving and significantly reducing the burden of road maintenance.
• Shelterbelts for dugouts can trap large amounts of snow. The resulting snowmelt helps fill dugouts.