Forest Service presenting noise management plans

Four plans to manage noise in the 987,000-acre Huron-Manistee National Forest are being presented by the U.S. Forest Service. The plans follow a lawsuit upheld by a federal appeals court that claimed hunters and snowmobilers were favored in a 2006 land management plan over forest visitors wanting a more quiet experience, The Muskegon Chronicle reported Friday. The alternative plans involve 67,000 acres of "semiprimitive nonmotorized" land in the forest, which stretches across parts the northern Lower Peninsula. No changes to the current management plan would occur under the first alternative. Another would close the 14 "semiprimitive nonmotorized" areas to gun hunting and snowmobiles. Under the Forest Service's preferred plan, the Manistee River and Whitewater Creek areas would be designated "roaded" natural sandy plains and hills. That would allow more noise...more