The Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation (LKDFN) is helping ensure that log cabins from many years ago will stand for many years more.
Since July, skilled workers have been refurbishing seven log cabins at LKDFN's Frontier Lodge that were handcrafted and built 50-60 years ago.
“For the most part they look as they did the day they were put up,” said the lodge's general manager Corey Myers. “With some of the floors it was amazing to see how little wear there was."
But over the years, as the cabins settled some of them got out of square and their supports gave out. The renovations are aimed at jacking up and levelling the cabins off and redoing their interiors.
Between four and 12 tradesmen from the community and Yellowknife have been putting new flooring into the cabins, along with installing lighting and electrical wiring, and redesigning the bathrooms.
“We've separated them so there's a shower separate from the rest of the bathroom so that more people can be accommodated and not just fishermen. It's way more functional for a group if they're staying together. One guy can be brushing their teeth and one can be showering,” Myers said.
While the Covid-19 pandemic spurred the lodge owners to make the tough decision to close the lodge for the summer, it gave them the opportunity to do the refurbishment work all at once instead of in pieces.
Myers said the renovations now bring the cabins “full circle”, after they were first built by Lutsel K'e residents decades ago and now fixed up by residents while the community also now owns the fishing lodge.
He expects the work on the cabins to be finished by early September.