By Robert L. Smith, Globe Correspondent, 06/07/98

GORHAM, N.H. -- At the end of a hard day's march stands a rustic lodge, smoke trailing from the chimney, and lights aglow in the windows. Inside, hikers find a hearty meal, warm bunks, and the camaraderie of fellow enthusiasts.

For over 100 years, the backcountry huts of the Appalachian Mountain Club have been the citadels of the White Mountain experience. Now that experience is being scrutinized as never before. As the AMC opens its huts for the summer hiking season this weekend, club officials are bracing for changes in a cherished tradition.

America's oldest mountaineering club is seeking permission to continue operating its network of mountain huts and trails well into the next century. The US Forest Service, in turn, is examining the impact of those programs, worried that the conservation-minded AMC is itself damaging the environment.

``We're talking about a relatively pristine, backcountry environment,'' said Rebecca Oreskes, recreation director of the White Mountain National Forest. Mountain lodges that draw 250,000 hikers and sightseers a year ``might be inconsistent with that scene,'' she said.

The club's eight huts, which offer meals and lodging on the Appalachian Trail, are spaced about a day's hike apart. Hikers know when they are close: The so-called death zone of trampled flowers and vegetation forms a wide arc.

While the Forest Service will probably issue another 30-year permit by summer's end, it is expected to insist upon steps that will lighten the club's footprint in the national forest. Scenarios range from the dismantling of the entire hut system to measures to scale back some of the AMC's programs.

Andy Falender, who directs the non-profit organization from its headquarters on Beacon Hill in Boston, said he's optimistic the club will survive the permit process with most of its program intact. But the club, he says, could lose two popular alpine huts -- at Lakes of the Clouds and Madison Spring -- and possibly be asked to stop serving meals at the other huts.

Oddly enough, the Forest Service's increased scrutiny of the club's activities appears to have been provoked by its vocal conservation-minded stance over the years. In 1994, the AMC voiced opposition to the federal relicensing of several power dams along the Androscoggin River. From time to time, it has opposed timber cutting and other job-producing ventures in the woods, often to the consternation of local residents.

``To us natives, who have to work up here 52 weeks a year, the AMC efforts are detrimental to the economy,'' said Fred King, a Colebrook Republican who represents the region in the New Hampshire Senate.

King said the AMC's ``advocacy work'' on behalf of conservation causes is often at odds with the needs of the local forest communities.

When the AMC permit came up for renewal in 1995, that opposition let itself be heard. A permit process that might have been routine mushroomed into two years of public hearings and studies.

``It got contentious,'' Oreskes said, noting that some local communities objected to what they called the advocacy role of a private organization that was using public land.

Falender said the AMC learned a hard lesson. The club realizes it has some badly needed public relations work to do in mountain communities.

For starters, he said, the organization has dropped its stay-the-course permit proposal in favor of one that encourages community input in AMC decision-making. In the future, he said, the club's position on conservation issues will be tempered by sensitivity to local needs.

Falender says the club also intends to take new steps to protect the ecosystem, for example, by educating hikers and curtailing new trail projects.

``Basically, we intend to practice what we preach,'' he said, ``that good conservation and good economic development can go hand in hand.''

Oreskes said the Forest Service likes what it is hearing. She said a decision on the permit renewal will likely not come before the end of the summer.

``I think this process had been a little bit of a wake-up call for [the AMC],'' she said. ``It's also been a wake-up call for us. We all need to connect to the communities here.''