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Pole yard setting at the new NW Line JATC campus. Photo courtesy of NW Line JATC.

Climbing to a New Career

New NW Line training center set to meet growing demand for linemen, tree trimmers

By Melody Finnemore

With a growing number of apprentices seeking to work in outside line construction and powerline clearance tree trimming, the Northwest Line Joint Apprenticeship Training Center (NW Line JATC) needed to expand its capacity to provide that education and training.

In August, it hosted an open house at its new 40,000-square-foot training center in Battle Ground, Washington. The center houses six large classrooms, a boardroom, conference room and a dozen offices. It also features a second-story mezzanine overlooking a 12,000-square-foot indoor pole yard with 30 poles set in the ground.

“We want to introduce people to our new building,” said Director Terry Lowen. “For the longest time we had an office in Vancouver and trained primarily in Warrenton, Oregon. This is the first time we’ve had an office and training center together. It’s in a more centralized area and it’s pretty state-of-the-art.”

Construction on the training center was completed in February and, while some classes already are taking place there, full training will kick off in October. NW Line JATC serves Washington, Oregon and parts of Idaho, and currently has 350 outside line construction apprentices enrolled in its three-and-a-half-year program. Each apprentice must complete 7,000 hours on the job and 562 hours in the classroom and labs.

NW Line JATC typically has about 200 utility line apprentices each year, and has 325 apprentices enrolled in its two-year powerline clearance tree trimming program. Each apprentice must complete 4,000 hours on the job and 288 hours in the classroom and labs, Lowen said.

A collaboration with NECA and IBEW, NW Line JATC will help the region meet the growing demand for journeyman linemen needed to keep up with providing reliable power and stay up to date with technology advances, said Tracy Harness, chapter manager for NECA’s NW Line Chapter.

“Expanding our training center and being able to have training aids to meet the expanding technology was a must. We will be able to train many future generations of journeyman linemen and journeyman tree trimmers,” Harness said. “We will meet the needs of the utilities and, in turn, that meets the demands of the consumers in the Northwest who rely on electricity. Our partnership continues to grow and enhance training to ensure our NECA contractors get the best trained union IBEW members.”

Travis Eri, IBEW Local 125 business manager, said the new training center meets the IBEW local unions’ goal of having a facility that could house both JATC offices and fill training needs in one spot.

“Having the support of all our contractors and the four local unions provides enough resources to build this state-of-the-art facility, which includes new ways for us to train line clearance tree trimmers hands on, that is the first of its kind across the country,” Eri said. “We will continue to strive for the best training in the country, and with our continued partnership I know we will supply the best workers to take on all the expansions of our electrical systems across the Northwest region.”

Melody Finnemore is a Portland-area freelance writer.