Meetings on possible Forest Service firearm hunting ban set

The U.S. Forest Service has rescheduled public meetings to discuss a proposed ban on firearm hunting and snowmobile use in the Huron-Manistee National Forest. Detroit-area lawyer Kurt Meister successfully argued before the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that officials favored hunters and snowmobilers over hikers, birders and people who enjoy the quiet of the outdoors when they drew up the forest's 2006 management plan. The Forest Service now must revisit the issue. It scheduled hearings for last week but they were canceled because of a winter storm. The meetings will take place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Hilton Garden Inn in Southfield and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Causeway Bay Hotel in Lansing. The forest covers about 1 million acres. AP