Nor is it a wilderness in the legal sense, an isolated area that somehow escaped development and now enjoys special protection under the law. Instead, wilderness is emerging here as agriculture withdraws from marginal or difficult lands. This is a consequence of falling farm prices and the resulting inability of farmers to make a living on land that, in some cases, has been farmed for more than a century. As humans leave and their visits become less frequent, wildness is reclaiming these lands. These are not virgin lands, but they are nevertheless wilder than they were.
Nature provides the evidence.
Species of wildlife that were rare a quarter century ago are now encountered routinely, even if they are not exactly common. Moose are back. Elk are back. There are persistent reports of bears on the periphery of the Red River Valley. Wolves are out there.