"We're hoping that we will be able to get all the trails open in time," said John Cumming, Maui District manager for the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

He said crews are removing fallen trees and other debris to make the trails safe for public use, but he cautioned there still are hazards in the 1,700 acres destroyed by the wildfire.

Just over two weeks ago, an underground fire was discovered still smoldering in one section of the burn three months after the fire was considered extinguished on Feb. 5. Cumming said he could not be sure all of the hazardous dead trees and debris would be removed to allow forestry officials to open all of the trails.

"We are hoping to have them all done. . . . We are trying our best out there," he said.

For hikers, bikers and hunters, 50 of whom attended the public meeting Wednesday night at the Tavares Community Center in Pukalani, the reopening of the forest reserve will restore access to the Polipoli State Park and campground and to hunting grounds outside of the burned area.

State parks officials expect to open Polipoli park and the Polipoli cabin on July 1, after the access road to the park has been made safe by the forestry division, said Deborah Ward, DLNR public information specialist.

At the public meeting, state wildlife biologist Shane De Mattos said hunting in the various zones in the Kula reserve will also open July 1, with regular rules in place. He asked hunters to inform forestry officials of any hunting signs that may have been damaged during the fire.

The popular natural area on the southwest slopes of Haleakala was closed to all public use after a wildfire broke out Jan. 23, destroying trees and brush over about 1,700 acres within a 2,300-acre area.

An investigation determined that the blaze was started by a cigarette discarded along one of the trails in the Waiohuli area of the forest reserve.

In addition to discussing when public access will be restored to the trails and for hunting, the state officials detailed the condition of the forest as well as plans for reforestation.

"We want to get the people back up there," Cumming said.

Torrie Nohara, with the Na Ala Hele trails and access program, said the trails are in good shape and are holding up since the fire. A Kona storm that brought heavy rains on March 16 probably did more damage than the fire, she said.

Because the fire wiped out much of the vegetation, she said, there was nothing to hold back the runoff that flowed down the mountain. The heavy runoff flooded a woman's home in Keokea.

Nohara said the current projects to remove damaged trees are also having an impact on the trails as the trees are being dragged on the ground. Despite the damage from erosion and equipment, she said there is also now an opportunity to upgrade and improve the trails.

To do that, she said Na Ala Hele had retained consultants HilRide Progressive Development Group, of Berkeley, Calif., to analyze the condition of the Kula forest trails and make recommendations to mitigate erosion and impacts of public use.

A husband-and-wife team, trails experts Nat and Rachael Lopes of HilRide, is conducting the survey of the Kula Forest Reserve trail network, and they have reported that 90 percent of the trails are in usable condition, with 10 percent in need of repairs.

Rachael Lopes, who is also an archaeologist, said she was impressed by the design of the trails through the reserve.

The HilRide assessment will cover the condition of the trails and how they were affected by the fire, and will recommend methods of maintenance to make the trail system more sustainable.

HilRide's report will be submitted to the state in about three weeks, Rachael Lopes said.

Also during the meeting Wednesday, Resource Protection Forester Lance De Silva said the state is progressing with plans to replant with native plants, some non-native plants and grasses.

The state is working with a local nursery to provide seedlings of the species of native plants normally found in the Waiohuli region, he said. He said the seeds will be only from plants found around the Kula reserve area.

He said the revegetation efforts will cover about 1,500 acres. The remaining 800 acres within the boundaries of the burn area did not have all vegetation destroyed and tree canopies are still intact, he said.

He said the structure of the forest will remain unchanged. The reforestation will replant pine trees where pine trees had been growing, he said. But he also said 60 percent of the plantings will be native trees such as koa, ohia, naio and mamane, with shrubs such as aalii being replanted in the upper-elevation brush lands. About 10 percent will be replanted in grasses.

De Silva said a meeting to address the reforestation plan could be held in late June or July.

The forestry division is retrofitting another hunter check-in station to replace a station along the Waipoli access road that was destroyed by a fire last month. Cumming said the old station had been renovated to provide handicapped access. The work had just been completed on the station when it was burned, he said.