The Living Fences: How a Japanese Scientist Brings Harmony to Wyoming’s Winter Roads

If you have ever driven across southern Wyoming, you have likely seen the long, towering wooden fences across open sagebrush land. Miles and miles stretched in the flat land across the southern Wyoming. Have you ever wondered why they sit in the middle of empty fields? And did you know that there is a scientific relationship with a piece of Japan lying across Wyoming?

It is even easy for some people to assume that they might be to keep the cattle in or have something to do with the wildlife migration. But the main purpose lies behind the the invisible fury of Wyoming’s windy winters. While these popular fences were first built decades ago, their 21st-century evolution belongs in part to a Japanese scientist, Dr. Noriaki Ohara, a civil engineer and hydrologist at the University of Wyoming.

Those fences stretched across souther Wyoming’s vast valleys are actually a carefully designed meteorological life saving tool. Unlike regular fences, snow fences are designed and built to manage the movement of winter’s extreme winds. They do not block the wind, but rather they use a precise ratio of open slats to redirect, interrupt, and pile up the snow drifts in a controlled spot protecting the roads to get blizzards and extreme pushes of air (Tabler 2003).

Dr. Ohara’s academic and professional journey

Having earned his engineering degrees at Chuo University in Tokyo before earning his doctorate at UC Davis across the Pacific, Dr. Noriaki Ohara was living in California and looking for his next professional chapter of his journey.

Then, a faculty offer arrived from the University of Wyoming. It was an unexpected professional chapter, thousands of miles away from home and far from the established Japanese communities across California. Yet, for a hydrologist like Dr. Ohara, who is interested in water and frozen crystals, Wyoming left like an open laboratory.
At the exact moment, highway snow defenses across southern Wyoming needed someone to modernize them. However, “snow fence engineering” is not a degree taught in lectures or in disciplinary field, it requires an interdisciplinary bridge between fluid dynamics, wind knowledge, and hands-on field meteorology. Wyoming needed someone who could see snow not just as a frozen precipitation blown in the wind, rather a natural fluid that need to be studied with patience and passion. This exact combination of knowledge and research interest was discovered in Dr. Ohara.

Dr. Ohara accepted the position in Laramie, Wyoming. He had very few expectations about the state’s cultural and natural landscape. Dr. Ohara says that his only historical point of reference for the state was having heard about the history of Heart Mountain Relocation Center in the northern part, and beyond that the state seemed just an uncharted land. It must be both surprising and shocking for one to find out about a piece of prominent Japanese history tied to the least populated state in America. (HM?)

Wyoming Ground Blizzards…/Project (TBD)

Moving to the high-altitude town of Laramie has also contributed to his contemporary research focus. What greeted him in the scale of High Plains was endless skies, rebellious wind, and vast mountain valleys. Experiencing Wyoming’s harsh winters and sheer volume of snow drifting, his research path has been reshaped; his academic focus localized, with the emphasis on the unique wind patterns, and winter hydrology of his new home. It was nothing like what Dr. Ohara experienced living in the two continents so far; Japan and the West Coast.

Wyoming has a unique nature of blizzards. It does not have to be snowing from the sky for the highways like I-80 to turn white. Extreme winds can scoop dry and frozen crystals off miles of open fields toward the highway and can turn the road into a ground blizzard with almost zero visibility. This adverse side of Wyoming’s climate had created devastating consequences for not only the locals or passing drivers, but also for everyone else nationwide since millions of dollars can be lost when the continental supply chain freezes shut. Slowing that strong drift takes an understanding of weather dynamics, precipitation, and a profound respect for natural forces. To protect drivers through the famous Interstate, snow fencing technology needed to be studies and modernized.

Dr. Ohara then dove into multi-year lasting research in attempts to reduce the blowout risks for truck-trails and reduce the impact of snow blizzards on the roads. Dr. Ohara has conducted interdisciplinary research with the emphasis on Wyoming’s specific type of wind climate. The research was not only to collect sources and solve mathematical problems, but it also included a lot of field work; visiting the sites, mounting custom sensor equipment, driving across to measure road surface conditions. Dr. Ohara also says that one of the hardest parts of this project was on-site field research which takes a lot of preparation and resistance working outside in the freezing temperatures and installing wind sensors across the High Plains.

Why not just build a long solid wall to completely stop the snow drifts?(TBD)

One of the interesting questions some people might ask about snow fences is “Why build a fence with gaps instead of a solid wall?” Dr. Ohara explains that the idea and the purpose of the project is not to fight against the nature or completely block the wind but rather make it work through gentle persuasion with lower cost and maximum effect. The open slats allow the wind to breathe through, slowing the strong air movement just down enough that it loses its violent energy. Dr. Ohara also mentioned that the fences are not to mimic continuous walls, yet they are purposefully designed and staggered with open gaps for miles ensuring native wildlife can continue their ancient migration without getting disturbed.

Dr. Ohara also describes the fences as “living fences.” Crafted from natural wood that weather under the sky, and they mimic almost the way a natural pattern of trees breaks the wind in the wild. Rather than fighting against nature, this technology works with it.

Similarity in Wyoming’s and Japan’s snow drift managing systems/A Story
of Two Snow Countries. (TBD)

Dr. Ohara talked about a similar region in Japan where winters share similar patterns of wind and snow just like in Wyoming. He says that Wyoming and Japan share a surprising kinship with each other. In regions like Hokkaido, at high elevation, cold air masses sweeping off from Siberia bring strong gales and snowdrifts.

While this creates similarity, it also creates a difference in how snow fences are managed in two sides of the world. Japan has a lot denser population and mountainous terrain, and this means that there is rarely room for miles of permanent wooden fences without blocking scenic views or crowding the site. In Hokkaido, for example, road crews often deploy temporary seasonal fences during the harsh seasons. On the other hand, Wyoming, with its vast land and uninhabited sagebrush land, allows these wooden fences to stand year-round. These striking similarity and difference create a unique perspective on the development of research for both regions. Dr. Ohara shared that he and his team share knowledge and scientific opinions working on collaboration.

A decision to make a positive change in Wyoming (TBD)

The visible impact of Dr. Ohara’s work is not found in computer simulations or academic papers, rather on the same roads, where thousands of people drive every day. Thanks to the carefully developed and modernized modeling by Dr. Ohara, WYDOT has been able to optimize fence placements with precision reducing the risks of road accidents and closures.

It is also worth to say that all of this traces back to one scholar’s decision to pack his bags and say yes to an offer based in a relatively small city in the southern part of Wyoming.

Dr. Ohara as a Wyomingite today (TBD)

Today, Dr. Ohara is leading a quiet and fulfilling life in Wyoming. He enjoys taking photos of snowdrifts and snow fences across Wyoming whenever he gets to visit whether in summer or in winter. When asked if he missed living in bigger and warmer cities, he says that the harsh weather of Wyoming cannot outweigh the advantages and joys of living in such a beautiful region next to Rocky Mountains. When friends and family back in Japan ask what it is like living in the least populated state in the U.S, he often talks about the abundant wildlife and gorgeous landscape during green seasons. But he also likes to mention that the winters can be harsh but stating “as long as you are prepared, every day in Wyoming can be a good day.”

Author’s Reflection (TBD)

Listening to Dr. Ohara describe and explain his research and contribution reminded me of a Japanese concept: shizen (自然). It is often translated as “nature,” but it speaks to a deeper philosophy of harmonizing with the nature with its naturalness rather than attempting to fight against or conquer it (Shizen, 2026). In Western culture, we are more conditioned to think that engineering is an act of human dominance; forcing nature into submission.

Yet, this engineering piece of wooden structure does not fight the gale, but it yields to it. And it is incredible to see the living shizen in practice in the vast land of High Plains thanks to scientists like Dr. Noriaki Ohara coming from thousands of miles away and making a life saving contribution to Wyoming.