A plan proposing ways to manage and preserve resources atop Mauna Kea could be in place within a month, a state spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources will be in Hilo on April 8 and 9 to consider approving the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan, Department of Land and Natural Resources spokeswoman Deborah Ward said.

The meetings start at 9 a.m. both days in the Moku Ola Ballroom of the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel on Banyan Drive, she said.

The land board is dedicating the better part of two days to hear a presentation on the comprehensive management plan and gather public testimony, "which is unusual," she said.

But before that happens, a local advisory board will offer its input on the 299-page plan that covers access, activities and land use within the Mauna Kea Science Reserve on the upper slopes of the 13,796-foot-high volcano.

The Mauna Kea Management Board will take up the management plan during its meeting today in Hilo.

The seven-member board will assemble from 9 a.m. to noon in Room 127 of the University of Hawai'i-Hilo's University Classroom Building. That's when the board is expected to give the plan a favorable recommendation, members said.

"That's what we're hoping will come about," chairman Barry Taniguchi said.

Second vice-chairman Ron Terry and member Lisa Hadway also said they expect the board to make a recommendation today.

"As far as I interpret the agenda, that's what we'll be doing," Hadway said.

Terry said he's unaware of any proposed amendments to the plan and doesn't plan to offer any himself.

Taniguchi noted there currently is no management plan for the summit region, which attracts astronomers, Native Hawaiian practitioners, tour companies and outdoor enthusiasts, sometimes overwhelming the area.

Native Hawaiians see Mauna Kea as a shrine, burial ground and sacred realm of the gods.

The University of Hawai'i leases the summit region from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The Honolulu consulting firm Ku'iwalu is developing the plan for the UH-Hilo's Office of Mauna Kea Management, which took over responsibilities for the summit region in 2000.

Among the plan's recommendations is a suggestion that all visitors undergo a mandatory orientation before ascending to the summit. Another recommendation calls for paving the upper, 5-mile dirt section of the summit road.

Related to the comprehensive management plan are two companion bills introduced in the state Legislature.

The measures would empower the UH Board of Regents to regulate activities on the summit, charge rental fees and impose fines for violations of its rules.

Taniguchi has lobbied for measures, but is unhappy with lawmakers' decision to amend each bill that had been set to take effect upon approval. Now, the Senate bill's effective date is 2025, while the House bill was amended to start in 2046 to "encourage further discussion."

Those changes show the state Legislature is not working to solve problems created by the lack of management authority over the Mauna Kea summit, Taniguchi said.

"It's a delaying tactic," he said. "To me, it's not reasonable."

Senate Bill 502 was sent to the Senate's Ways and Means Committee, which did not hear the measure before a March 6 deadline, meaning it's dead for this year's session, a committee staff member said Wednesday.

But House Bill 1174 remains alive. The measure has been sent to both the Senate's Higher Education Committee and Water, Land, Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs Committee. The two committees must hold a joint meeting and pass it on to Ways and Means panel by March 27 or the bill will fail, the staff member said.