SAN FRANCISCO -- A tranquil wilderness scene graces the cover of the Sierra Club's 2000 calendar, befitting the vision of protected natural serenity that drove the club's 19th-century founder, John Muir. But things are far from tranquil inside the venerable club these days.

An ideological struggle has pitted the moderate environmentalists who set the club's tone for decades against a radical group who call themselves the John Muir Sierrans. The old guard argues that the Sierra Club's mission is best served by a pragmatic approach that makes compromises with industry and government agencies over matters such as logging. The John Muir Sierrans -- they call themselves simply "John Muirs" -- seek nothing less than the restoration of wilderness around the United States.The rift could have far-reaching significance because the Sierra Club has effectively used its political clout to influence environmental decisions of recent decades. It provides endorsements for candidates in local, state and national elections. Much of its influence comes from the broad constituency it has garnered through its relatively moderate politics.

The results of the fight so far favor the John Muirs, who have won control of seven of the club's 15 national board seats and have shifted the club to a decidedly radical stance on many issues. For instance, the club is now calling for the government to ban all commercial logging in national forests. It also wants the United States to drain the massive Lake Powell reservoir on the Colorado River. "We should stand for something we believe in and hang in with it," says David Brower, a John Muir leader.

Moderates warn that the club risks losing its credibility as its politics get closer to those of radical groups like Greenpeace or Earth First. "The John Muir Sierrans seem intent on radicalizing the Sierra Club," says Jim Wechsler, a board member of the club's Utah chapter. "They are a very, very serious threat to the Sierra Club."

In fact, some of the Sierra Club's traditional enemies are cheering the John Muirs because they believe a radicalized club will be less effective. "I want to send money to the extremists," says W. Henson Moore, president of the American Forest and Paper Association, an industry trade group. "I want to help them, because they will lose public support" for the Sierra Club. However, club officials say such dissent is healthy. "The tension is what makes us strong," says Carl Pope, the Sierra Club's executive director, "but it also makes us noisy."

Disaffected club members formed the John Muir Sierrans in 1993.

A year later they succeeded in having the first John Muir Sierran elected to the national board that year. Then Brower joined the board in 1995, followed by another radical in 1996.

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As executive director of the club from 1952 to 1969, Brower, now 87, championed some of the organization's greatest triumphs. The one compromise he made was the one he has always regretted: standing by as the government dammed Utah's Glen Canyon to form Lake Powell in 1963.

In 1996, however, the issue was revived when Brower called for a club resolution to drain Lake Powell. The resolution passed, precipitating a split in the club's Utah chapter. The chapter hadn't been alerted beforehand and didn't want attention diverted from its main causes of preserving Utah wilderness and stopping a new highway.

Disagreeing with the chapter's leadership, about 100 John Muir-affiliated activists were told by chapter officials that it would be recognized -- if its members promised to drop all talk about the lake. They refused to abide by the rule and were denied recognition, but they still meet.

At the Sierra Club's national level, elections for the national board are under way, with a slate of five John Muirs among the 13 candidates running for five open seats. Two of the current John Muir directors, including Mr. Hanson, are seeking re-election. Winners will be announced in April or early May. "All we know," says the radical Brower, "is that we need one more seat."

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