Kansas City, Mo. ? Branches still hanging from some trees after the recent ice storm have prompted state officials to close some Kansas City-area hiking trails and caution people to be careful on others.

The Missouri Department of Conservation last week closed the James A. Reed Memorial Wildlife Area near Lee’s Summit and all trails and picnic shelters at the Burr Oak Woods Nature Center in Blue Springs.

“They received a lot of tree damage,” said Mark Nelson, regional forestry supervisor. “There are a lot of limbs broken and hanging in the tops of these trees.”

The department put “anybody qualified to use a chain saw” from fishery biologists to foresters to work last week clearing debris and problem trees at the Reed area. It reopened to the public Friday evening but several trails will remain closed until limbs are cleared away, Nelson said.

On Monday, the department will continue cleanup and hazard removal at Burr Oak. Nelson said foresters were unsure when all trails would be open because the areas had dangerous trees in hard-to-reach locations.

“It’s the worst ice storm we’ve seen at Burr Oak since we opened it in the 1970s,” he said.

In Kansas City parks, trails are open but may have hazardous hanging limbs or downed debris, said Susan Bray, a naturalist at the Lakeside Nature Sanctuary. Some trails have been cleared, but others may not have been checked yet, because city crews have had more urgent priorities.

Volunteers are still clearing trails at the Martha Lafite Thompson Nature Sanctuary in Liberty, receptionist Lynne Lund said. Most had been closed but were expected to be reopened today.

Johnson County reopened its Turkey Creek Trail in Merriam Friday, said Mike Ray, superintendent for the Johnson County Park and Recreation District.

In the Mill Creek Streamway Park, the Gary L. Haller Trail was closed in the Northgate area Friday because of heavy ice on a north-facing slope.

Overland Park officials said all trails were open and crews had taken damage inventories and removed the worst hazards.