wallace stegner wrote the wilderness letter in 1960. [sandra day o'connor] wallace stegner at the end of his life was disillusioned with how the west had allowed development to overtake its natural beauties and its natural bounty in favor of development. [narrator] wallace stegner described a concept called "the geography of hope". he believed wilderness was necessary even if one never traveled to it. it's important just to know it's there. [robert redford] he saw the wilderness and preservation of the wilderness, and i agree with this, as the reason to preserve it because it told us who we are as a people, and as a nation. [page stegner] it generated a lot of activity, which lead, ultimately, to the passage of the wilderness act. [narrator] the wilderness act was created by congress in 1964. [senator bob bennett] wilderness designation is, perhaps, the most severe designation that congress can put on a piece of land in terms of anybody using it, or accessing it. [william meadows] people who say we're locking up wilderness aren't thinki