Hawaii Volcanoes National Park announced today its goal to reopen parts of the park by Sept. 22 – National Public Lands Day – as long as the current pause in earthquakes and collapse-explosion events at the summit of Kilauea continues.
Exact details of what will be open are pending, but visitors should expect limited hours, limited visitor services and that only some areas in the park will be open for safe visitation, the park said in a news release.
Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando shared the news at a community Talk Story event this afternoon in Volcano, at the Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus. Nearly 125 people attended.
“We have the difficult task ahead of us of identifying what we can safely open. Our first step will be bringing staff back into the park, while getting assessments done,” Orlando said. “National Public Lands Day is our goal but not definitive.”
The Talk Story sessions continue Thursday in the Kahuku Unit at 10 a.m., unless impacts from Hurricane Lane force the park to reschedule. Check the park website for alerts, www.nps.gov/havo.
Most of the park, except the Kahuku Unit, has been closed due to increased volcanic and seismic activity since May 11. No significant seismic or collapse-explosion events have occurred at the summit since early August.