Sanford native joins line crew
Following about a year working as a traveling apprentice for Probst Electric, Sanford native Dakota Barr has settled back home in the San Luis Valley. Dakota recently joined SLVREC as an apprentice lineman and will work on his training to become a journeyman.
After working in the oil fields and ranching for nearly 10 years, Dakota decided he was ready for a lifelong career and began school at Northwest Lineman School in Meridian, ID. Graduating in June 2020, he went on to join Probst doing power line and transmission construction, working in Wyoming, Kansas and Florida. “I had four days to move from Kansas to Florida; they informed me on Thursday, and I had to be at work on Monday. That was a tough part of the job. Although, it was fun traveling around and experiencing Florida, I was happy to move back home. It was hot there— kind of rough working conditions,” he said.
“I’m ready to spend more time with my family and kickstart my career here, back at home,” Dakota commented.
Dakota enjoys team roping, fly-fishing and traveling with his wife, five-year-old daughter and nearly three-year-old son in his spare time. They recently visited North Clear Creek Falls by Creede and hope to be able to travel more throughout Colorado in the coming months. “That’s a great part of working at REC, the three-day weekend is enough time to travel around the state. We’d like to see all the national parks,” he said.
So far Dakota is enjoying his time at REC; “I’ve had a warm welcome and everyone’s been great.”