2003 award for Best Environmental Practice

To the Brewster family’s delight and surprise, Brewster’s Shadow Lake Lodge, a small backcountry guest accommodation nestled in Banff National Park’s wilderness, beat out the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise to win the 2003 award for Best Environmental Practice.

“It had always been my father’s dream to expand and develop Shadow Lake Lodge so the area he loved so dearly could be shared with others,” Alison Brewster explained.

The Canadian Pacific Railway built and operated the original Shadow Lake Lodge in 1928 until Brewster Transport bought it in the 1930s. For decades the single log building remained unchanged until 1990 when the Brewster family constructed six guest cabins and a dining lodge. Most recent additions include replacing kerosene lamps with solar-powered lights, hot showers and other little luxuries to entice guests to extend their stay.

Shadow Lake was always a special place to Alison Brewster’s father, so when designing the lodge’s additions and upgrades, the Brewsters chose to exceed the basic environmental considerations required by Parks Canada to employ superior ecological protection measures.

 “We are a small business so we did our own research into environmentally sound practices and did most of the labour ourselves. The judges rewarded us for going above and beyond the basic solutions for our waste treatment and electrical needs.”   

“Our family is heritage tourism. We have been in this business for over 100 years. It was how I was raised; it’s not just something we’re doing now because it’s in vogue. Travellers are more educated and when visiting a new place, they want to understand it and learn something new. Our guests are dictating the fact that we need to communicate to them what heritage tourism means to us,” Alison Brewster said.

Environmental protection is at the heart of the Brewster’s vision of what Shadow Lake Lodge should offer guests in terms of a natural backcountry experience. Without a healthy environment, the appeal for guests to stay at Shadow Lake Lodge would be compromised. The Brewsters understand that visitors who choose a backcountry lodge go there to be close to nature and the only way to deliver an authentic natural experience is to have a healthy ecosystem.