In June of 1998 the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, in partnership with the Dogrib Nation, opened a 5-month exhibit of the original lodge. The opening day events were attended by nearly 1200 people, and many related cultural events took place, including a hand game. Due to its age and fragility, the exhibit was dismantled in October, 1998, and the lodge was placed in storage at the Northern Heritage Centre. In order to fulfill community expectations of seeing the lodge on display, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre joined forces with the Dogrib Community Services Board and the Dogrib Treaty 11 Council to develop a project to create two replicas of the original.

In September of 1999 the partners joined the Chief Jimmy Bruneau High School caribou hunt on the barrenlands near Grizzley Bear Lake. Thirty-eight of the 75 caribou skins needed for the project were collected during the hunt. A group of seven Dogrib women were asked to help with the project, and they agreed to tan the hides, sew and decorate the lodges, and to teach their skills to young Dogrib children. The elders established a camp at Russell Lake near Rae where, throughout the fall of 1999 and spring of 2000, the lodges were made.