Huron-Manistee National Forests

Stretching nearly one million acres across Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula, the Huron-Manistee National Forests protect the headwaters of some of the finest trout streams in the eastern United States, including the legendary Au Sable River -- designated a National Scenic River and widely considered the birthplace of modern American fly fishing. The forest provides critical nesting habitat for the endangered Kirtland's warbler, a rare songbird that breeds almost exclusively in young jack pine stands, and the forest's management program for this species is one of the great conservation success stories of the Endangered Species Act.\n\nThe Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness, the only designated wilderness in Michigan's Lower Peninsula, protects towering Lake Michigan sand dunes, interdunal wetlands, and miles of undeveloped shoreline accessible only on foot. The forest's extensive river systems -- including the Pere Marquette, Manistee, Pine, and Au Sable -- offer outstanding canoeing, kayaking, and fishing for steelhead, salmon, and brown trout. Vast stands of northern hardwoods and jack pine provide habitat for black bears, bobcats, wild turkeys, and bald eagles, while the forest's network of trails supports hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling through rolling terrain and alongside pristine inland lakes.