Unalaska, AK – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service want to know what you think is the most important thing to tell tourists about Unalaska when they come here on the ferry.

The Alaska Marine Highway was declared an All-American Road in 2005, and parts of the southwestern ferry route have been declared scenic byways. That means there's federal funding available for interpretive exhibits telling passengers on the Tustumena about the communities along the ferry route.

Representatives of both federal agencies as well as the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference are in Unalaska looking for ideas for those exhibits. The Unalaska Convention & Visitors Bureau is hosting a meeting with them at the Museum of the Aleutians this evening where community members can share their thoughts.

"The people who will actually design the interpretive master plan are interviewing people from Unalaska to say, 'Tell us what you think the natural history, cultural and environmental stories are--what it is you most think people would want to know while they're transiting here,'" said CVB Executive Director Tammy Peterson.

Poppy Benson, the public programs supervisor for the FWS's Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, said those exhibits could take a number of different forms.

"For instance, maybe there needs to be a little video kiosk on the ferry where a passenger can hit the name of a town and maybe the mayor, maybe the CVB person, maybe an elder says, 'Welcome to our community, this is what's cool about our town'--sort of an introduction to the community," she said. "That might be an idea."

The refuge has a $50,000 grant to come up with a plan for the interpretive program. Tonight's meeting is at 7 p.m. at the Museum of the Aleutians.