At midnight Tuesday, a Canadian decision to close the border at night between the Southeast Alaska community of Hyder and the British Columbia town of Stewart goes into effect, with residents on both sides of the border planning to protest the closure.
"This is probably one of the stupidest decisions I've ever seen," Wes Loe, president of the Hyder Community Association and owner of the Hyder General Store, said Tuesday.
"We are one community with two countries, and that's the problem."
Starting Wednesday, the border between the two towns will be closed from midnight to 8 a.m., Stefanie Wudel, spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency, confirmed Tuesday.
Hyder is a town of roughly 87 people on the southeastern tip of the Alaska Panhandle. About 2 miles northeast sits the B.C. community of Stewart, population roughly 400.
Hyder uses B.C. electric service and telephone area code, Loe said in February, and residents use both U.S. and Canadian currencies.
The border crossing is staffed on the Canadian side. U.S. Customs and Border Protection does not have a presence there.
In late February, residents were notified that the border crossing would see reduced hours. The border station had been determined to be "under-utilized outside of primary operating hours," Wudel wrote at the time.
Residents in both communities have echoed fears of economic and safety impacts. Both communities rely heavily on tourism during summer, including late-night bar hopping and early-morning bear viewing in Hyder. But with the road closed, residents worry tourists may skip Hyder or shorten trips to Stewart.
"It's going to hurt Stewart's community, and that's what surprises me," Loe said of the CBSA's decision.
In addition, the road out of Hyder is that community's tsunami escape route, as well as the town's lifeline to emergency services. Should an emergency arise, residents worry, delays in access could have catastrophic results.
On Wednesday morning, both U.S. and Canadian residents are planning a "very peaceful protest" as border officials open the road linking the towns, Loe said.
Stewart Mayor Galena Durant said she would be there.
"I am not happy myself," Durant said, "not as a mayor, not as a citizen."
Durant said the decision was relayed as a cost-saving measure for the Canadian agency. When asked how much money would be saved by closing the border at night, Wudel replied that the hours of service would be changed but not the number of staff working at the site.
Meanwhile, residents in the two towns are quick to point out that the border station is slated for an upgrade.
The border crossing is one of "several sites that have been identified as national priorities as part of the CBSA's regular major capital investment funding," agency spokesperson Wudel wrote in early March.
The building currently in use is a trailer installed in 1996, according to Wudel, and the agency was reviewing plans for site-related civil works.
The decision to close the border prompted Alaska Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan, to visit the communities last week. Ortiz said Tuesday he is working directly with Canadian government officials to find ways to reduce safety concerns.
News of the closure also prompted Sen. Lisa Murkowski to write a letter to Canada's ambassador to the U.S. in mid-March in which she asks Canada to withdraw its plan and consult further with the two communities.
Ortiz said Canadian border officials have been "cooperative in their discussions but still haven't gotten suitable solutions to some of those concerns of the folks in Hyder."