An inevitable springtime task for ranchers and road crews — fence repair — will come in Homeric proportions this year after of one of the worst winters on record.
Niels Hanson, who ranches near Rawlins in one of the hardest-hit regions of the state, isn’t looking forward to it.
It’s so bad this year, that even on the cusp of May, Hanson said he’s barely been able to get started on the havoc of tangled wires yet to emerge from massive snowdrifts.
“Because of the snow and mud, we haven’t been able to get to much fence yet,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “We’re running two to three weeks behind normal.”
Roadside Wreckage
Crews with the Wyoming Department of Transportation also have their fence work cut out for them, agency spokesman Cody Beers told Cowboy State daily.
“That drifting snow just kills our fences,” he said.
WYDOT crews are responsible for maintaining and repairing right of way fences along highways across Wyoming, and that chore is going to be a doozy this spring, Beers said.
“The deep snow has really hurt our fences in some places,” he said. “Up on South Pass and out toward Rawlins, we’ve got entire sections of fences just laying on the ground.”
The snow’s heavy toll on highway fences comes as WYDOT crews are already stretched thin. As this winter began, the agency was short 71 snowplow drivers.
Those drivers who were on duty this winter were constantly scrambling and frequently under the worst of circumstances. In February in Carbon County, four snowplows got stuck, and then a wrecker sent after them also became stranded in heavy snow.
Jason Fry, a WYDOT snowplow driver based in Evanston, watched a bull elk and other wildlife slowly starve to death by the roadside. He told Cowboy State Daily that between frantic plow runs, he and his colleagues had their handful hauling off wildlife carcasses.
But even as an exhausting winter finally winds down, there is no time to rest with all the fence repair that needs done, Beers said.
“These crews have really stepped up this winter,” he said. “Every day they’ve been coming in asking, ‘Where do you need me to go today. What needs to be done?’”
Draws Of Destruction
The snow hit hard out toward Casper too, Rancher and Cowboy State Daily agriculture columnist Dennis Sun said.
His family expects to stay plenty busy for quite some time repairing fences on their place west of Casper.
Most of the damage is to sections of fence that are down in draws, which were completely filled with snow as one winter storm after another hit, he said.
“Most of the damage results because the snow is really heavy. It weighs down the wire and then busts the wire,” Sun said.
Thankfully, for the most part, fence posts and stretch panels have stayed intact, he added.
“Usually, if you’re using steel posts, they stay up unless the wire is tied really good to them,” Sun said. “And then the whole fence just lays over under the weight of the snow.”
Hungry elk, short on natural forage, also broke fences in some places trying to get to haystacks, Sun said.
“We’ve have herds of 300-400 elk that come down on us. And when you get that many elk, you’re going to get some damage to fences,” he said.
Still Optimistic
Despite the mountain of fence work to be done, Sun said he’s still optimistic going into spring and looks forward to summer.
For one thing, the antelope herds around his place have pulled through the winter mostly OK, even as antelope died by the thousands out toward the Red Desert and the Baggs region.
“We’ve got a lot of antelope out in our country that survived,” he said. “We’re in a big area for antelope and sage grouse.”
And the melting snow will bring bountiful growth, Sun said.
“We’re going to have a lot of water. A lot of water is going to come down these draws,” he said. “Fixing what needs to be fixed is going to be worth it, because of all the moisture.”
