This is not your father's Sierra Club. Some of its leadership positions are held by activists with radical ties and even violent criminals. The Club has done well preserving a "mainstream" image, despite its increasingly radical bent.
The Club’s new extremist priorities are best illustrated in the person of animal-rights extremist Paul Watson, elected to the Sierra Club's board of directors in 2003.
Watson founded the ultra-radical Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) in 1977 after being booted from Greenpeace (which he also co-founded) for espousing violence in the name of the environment.
Watson and his Sea Shepherd pirates sail the high seas, terrorizing the fishing industry by sinking ships and endangering lives.
"I got the impression that instead of going out to shoot birds, I should go out and shoot the kids who shoot birds," says Watson ...
http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm
I know a lot of folks who join Sierra Club thinking they are helping wildlife.
Sierra doesn't spend any money helping wildlife -- they tie up the wildlife managers' hands with frivolous litigation aimed at ending all consumptive use of national forests. The USFS spends way too much time defending itself from these lawsuits, time taken away from managing wildlife and the forest.
Controlled burning and some logging is actually beneficial to a lot of wildlife, including some endangered and threatened species. I'd bet my last dollar controlled burns are a lot less deadly for wildlife than an out of control wildfire.
And yes, the Sierra was hijacked long ago by the radical and criminal Paul Watsons. Meanwhile, gullible folks who think they are helping the environment or wildlife continue to pay huge salaries for the Paul Watsons and other radicals -- MONEY THAT COULD BE USED TO RESTORE/MAINTAIN healthy wildlife populations.
I always tell these folks, when I talk to them, if they want to help wildlife, buy a hunting license. That money has been PROVEN to be responsible for wildlife restoration and the maintainance of healthy populations.