Taddiken Tree Company, Boulder, recently became the first ALCC member company (and second company overall) to become officially registered with the Department of Labor in order to offer apprenticeship for the occupation of arborist in Colorado.

“We completed the paperwork, and the next step is to sign the contracts,” said Josh Morin, Taddiken managing partner/owner.

He noted that there are two areas of value in the program: in training and growing employees but also in helping existing journey workers to gain a certificate of completion. As they prepare to finalize the contracts, Taddiken is “having conversations with current employees who are aligned with apprenticeship. The program offers a training and growth model for our employees and we’re excited to get them enrolled,” he explained.

Morin is also hopeful that the apprenticeship will help Taddiken attract and recruit less-experienced people interested in the arborist trade and may be looking for a pathway to becoming a journey worker arborist.       

Since a journey worker can only mentor one apprentice at a time, they are hoping to have up to three apprentices to start. The apprenticeship is a three-year process.

For those who might be intimidated by the work involved in establishing an apprenticeship, Morin says his experience demonstrated otherwise. “What we imagined would be complex and difficult was not that way. The responsiveness and level of support that the local DOL office and staff have provided has been helpful.”

According to the US Department of Labor, for every dollar spent on apprenticeship, employers get an average of $1.47 back in increased productivity.

The first apprenticeship educational component is scheduled to begin fall 2019 at Front Range Community College, Westminster campus.