The men and women meeting in the shade of cottonwoods didn't look much like an environmental group. Most were in their late 40s or older. Expensive cars lined the grass by the ranch house.

It was a private session, and I was asked to wait a few minutes until it was over. So I sat on the wooden steps of the home's porch - a new rock house built in an old, elegant, simple style, a replica of an 1860 home on the same ranch.The 10 men and women continued their meeting at a long table, laughing sometimes, speaking intently, the trees' shadows moving across piled papers, maps and the white tablecloth.

This was a board meeting of one of the country's newest environmental groups, the Grand Canyon Trust.

The trust is a vigorous conservation group taking aim at Utah and other states of the Colorado Plateau, that huge chunk of canyon country and desert that surrounds the Four Corners. It is headed by politicians, educators, financiers and researchers. The trust promises to play a role in the future of Utah's natural resources.

The ranch had a mild, relaxing atmosphere. I could hear the Virgin River's burbling. A patch of flowers bordered the porch. A riding mower had left swirls across the giant lawn. Three or four miles to the north, spectacular red monoliths of Zion National Park swept into the sky.

Stewart Udall padded barefooted away from the table and sat on the steps beside me. One of the country's most distinguished conservationists, he was the secretary of the Interior Department for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Recently, he has been a leader in the fight to win compensation for nuclear fallout victims.

"We've been in existence two years," he said of the trust. "We're a young organization. We're trying to get our feet on the ground."

The group's headquarters is in Washington, D.C., but it was founded by then-Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt and to some extent its base remains in Phoenix.

Babbitt, Udall and Chase Peterson, president of the University of Utah, are among its directors.

Although it's the new kid on the block among environmental organizations, the trust is already embroiled in tough conservation battles.

The trust was largely responsible for new restrictions that the Federal Aviation Administration announced in May, limiting sightseeing flights over the Grand Canyon. Airborne sightseers must now keep out of four "flight free zones," and the planes and helicopters must fly at a higher altitude elsewhere at the park.