diff --git a/src/hats_import/catalog/arguments.py b/src/hats_import/catalog/arguments.py
index 8317cebf..53b4b66c 100644
--- a/src/hats_import/catalog/arguments.py
+++ b/src/hats_import/catalog/arguments.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 from hats.catalog import TableProperties
 from hats.catalog.catalog_collection import CatalogCollection
 from hats.io.file_io import get_upath
-from hats.io.paths import DATASET_DIR, PARTITION_ORDER
+from hats.io.paths import DATASET_DIR, HIVE_COLUMNS, PARTITION_ORDER
 from hats.io.validation import is_valid_catalog
 from hats.pixel_math import spatial_index
 from hats.pixel_math.spatial_index import SPATIAL_INDEX_COLUMN, SPATIAL_INDEX_ORDER
@@ -234,7 +234,10 @@ def reimport_from_hats(cls, path: str | Path | UPath, output_dir: str | Path | U
         if not is_valid_catalog(path, strict=True):
             raise ValueError("path not a valid catalog")
 
-        column_names = catalog.schema.names if catalog.schema is not None else None
+        column_names = None
+        if catalog.schema is not None:
+            column_names = catalog.schema.names
+            column_names = [name for name in column_names if name not in HIVE_COLUMNS]
 
         in_file_paths = list(
             (path / DATASET_DIR).rglob(f"{PARTITION_ORDER}*/**/*{catalog.catalog_info.npix_suffix}")
diff --git a/tests/hats_import/catalog/test_reimport_hats.py b/tests/hats_import/catalog/test_reimport_hats.py
index 29c49bfe..4443d5e6 100644
--- a/tests/hats_import/catalog/test_reimport_hats.py
+++ b/tests/hats_import/catalog/test_reimport_hats.py
@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ def test_run_reimport(
     assert catalog.catalog_info.default_columns == old_cat.catalog_info.default_columns
     assert catalog.catalog_info.__pydantic_extra__["obs_regime"] == "Optical"
     assert len(catalog.get_healpix_pixels()) == 4
+    assert catalog.schema == old_cat.schema
 
     # Check that the schema is correct for leaf parquet and _metadata files
     original_common_md = paths.get_common_metadata_pointer(old_cat.catalog_base_dir)