The Manistee portion is located in northwest lower Michigan. It has varying but largely sandy terrain covered with trees. There are numerous lakes and frontage on Lake Michigan. It's popular for fishing, camping, boating, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and hunting. The North Country Trail, more accurately the North Country National Scenic Trail, passes through it.

The Manistee forest is not one continuous mass but is broken by private property and towns. Much had been land abandoned by logging companies after being logged off a century ago.

The Huron National Forest portion is in northeast lower Michigan. Its southern boundary is approximately at the latitude of Manistee's northern boundary.

The headquarters for the forests is in Cadillac, Michigan.

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