The Hawaii National Guard is moving forward with plans to convert a shuttered Big Island prison into a Youth Challenge Academy, but after community opposition it has dropped a proposal to train soldiers and build a pistol range and helicopter landing zones on the grounds .

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Sept. 9 approved a transfer of management of about 600 acres at the former Kulani Correctional Facility in South Hilo to the state Department of Defense.

The National Guard operates a Youth Challenge Academy program for at-risk, high school-age students at Kalaeloa on Oahu.

About 400 youths apply for each of the 5 1/2 -month, quasi-military residential education programs that are held twice a year at Kalaeloa, but the academy has space for only about 125 students, officials said.

"So there’s obviously a whole lot more kids who could be served who are not being served," said Hawaii National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony.

Two groups of about 150 students each could go through the Kulani program every year. "We could effectively double the number of kids that we are graduating each year," Anthony said.

Some 6,000 students drop out of Hawaii public schools each year, he said.

About $2.4 million in federal funds and $600,000 in state money will be used to run the Kulani facility, he said. The Guard wants to have its first classes in January.

The National Guard had proposed using a former boys school at Kulani for urban warfare training, building a pistol range, conducting company-size and lower-level training along roadways and in a pasture area, and developing helicopter landing zones in the pasture and near the camp, according to state documents.

However, some residents opposed what was termed the "militarization" of the land.

The prison, operated by the state Department of Public Safety, was part of a 7,244-acre tract. The Land Board also agreed to transfer 6,600 acres to the Puu Makaala Natural Area Reserve.

The area was designated critical habitat by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Kulani "contains some of the highest-quality forest on the Big Island, and is the core of the remaining habitat for some of the island’s most endangered bird species and many rare plants," according to the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

Hilo resident Cory Harden was among those who opposed the military training at Kulani.

"They are going to expand that natural area, the reserve, and military use is not compatible with trying to preserve these endangered animals," Harden said.

The Guard’s Anthony said Hawaii Guard soldiers already had been using the Kulani grounds for more than a decade for urban training, but that will cease.

The Land Board meeting was "very emotionally charged," with some speaking out against the Hawaii National Guard training, Anthony said. Brig. Gen. Gary Ishikawa, deputy state adjutant general, pulled the training proposal to gain approval for the Youth Challenge Academy plan, he said.

"The compromise that was made was that the proposal was amended to make it for the Youth Challenge Academy and related activities only," Anthony said.

Several people contested the Land Board vote and Anthony said there is a slight possibility the approval could be overturned on appeal.

Anthony said the Guard will have to fly the Big Island-based National Guardsmen who used Kulani to Oahu for urban training.

The Big Island program will have an auto repair shop, woodworking and farming using facilities already there.

The state closed the 123-inmate Kulani prison in November, citing the budget shortfall and $6 million annual cost to run the prison.

Youth Challenge Academy students on Oahu, who take GED exams and receive a high school diploma at the completion of the program through Waipahu Community Schools, will continue to focus on community college prep, Anthony said.