A long-running effort to build a road through part of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, crossing the wild and scenic Kobuk River in the process, to reach a proposed copper mine has landed the river on American Rivers' 2024 list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers®.

While much conservation and political attention have focused on whether to allow oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, another project, the Ambler Mining Project, and road construction proposal may pose even greater threats to the Arctic’s wildlife and wildlands. Despite this threat, the Ambler project has thus far received far less attention from the media, politicians, and conservation organizations.

Though lawsuits are pending in a bid to halt a proposed copper mine's access road from cutting across parts of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve and the Kobuk Wild and Scenic River in Alaska, the mining company plans to move forward this year with fieldwork, part of which would involve surveying work for the road.

The National Park System is full of superlatives: the biggest, the smallest, the longest, the deepest, the rarest, the tallest, and on and on. National Parks Quiz and Trivia #26 takes a look at some of these superlatives while testing your knowledge and teaching you a little something you might not have known.