Suit over noise in Huron-Manistee Forest dropped

LANSING (AP) -- A lawsuit that called for banning snowmobiling and hunting with guns in parts of the Huron-Manistee National Forest has been dismissed. Plymouth attorney Kurt Meister filed a lawsuit contending that a management plan developed by the U.S. Forest Service in 2006 favored hunters and snowmobilers over hikers, birders and people who enjoy the quiet of the outdoors. A federal appeals court ordered the agency to reconsider the plan in 2010. Huron-Manistee spokesman Ken Arbogast says Meister recently informed the government he was dropping his suit. Arbogast says some sections are quieter than others. But he says more than 90 percent of the forest is within a half-mile of a road, so it's not realistic to expect the kind of solitude that would be found in a wilderness area. Published: Fri, Jun 14, 2013