My first full day in Wrangell, as I walked to the Sentinel office, I drank in the Norman Rockwellesque views on Front Street, and I considered that I just might fall in love with this charming community.

This town was immediately hospitable and courteous and warm. I felt welcome from the very start. And I started trying to learn more about the community. I’ve especially been interested in learning about the Indigenous population.

Where I come from in Southeast Missouri, there is no living Indigenous heritage. There is little taught about them. What is taught is how the area was “civilized” after the Indigenous population was pushed out, the swamps were drained and the towns were built.

Even in my own family — my great grandmother was 100% Indigenous — we don’t know the history of the Indigenous culture. We don’t even know what tribe we are connected to.

So, I was immediately fascinated by the Tlingit and Haida culture here and instantly wanted to start learning.

I learned that, like most places, there is both good and bad history here. But I would say most of what I have learned has been positive. And I have been thrilled to work for the newspaper to cover events like the totem pole ceremonies and having the opportunity to watch the people here add their own pages to a lengthy history book.

I’ve also been pleased to see the Indigenous people be so welcoming to the non-Indigenous and granting my wish to learn. And for some reason, it all makes me think of Yellowstone National Park.

I’ll explain.

The wolf population in Yellowstone was hunted to extinction in the 1920s, and what followed is referred to as a trophic cascade — where a change at the top effects everything all the way to the bottom. Without the wolves, the elk and deer populations exploded, which led to the overgrazing of young willow, aspen and cottonwood trees.

The lack of those trees caused the population of songbirds to plummet, and riverbanks eroded more easily because tree roots were no longer stabilizing the soil.

That led to changes in water flow and river shape. Beavers almost completely disappeared because they rely on willow for food and for dam building.

But, in 1996, wolves were added back to the population in Yellowstone. As a result, the elk and deer population started to become managed, vegetation recovered, beavers came back, songbirds returned, erosion subsided and rivers stabilized.

It’s a perfect illustration of everything having its place and lending to a system for balance. It’s a perfect example of the phrase “the sum is greater than its parts.”

I look at Wrangell, and I see such a balance. I see the original community in place with a strong presence, along with the non-Indigenous community peacefully co-existing and everyone supporting each other. I see a community that recognizes the importance of community.

I see a system in balance with no immediate worries of an ecological domino effect being imminent. I look around, and I see home.