| has gloss | eng: The Noatak River is a river in northwestern Alaska. The rivers headwaters are on tall Mount Igikpak in the Schwatka Mountains of the Brooks Range in the Gates of the Arctic National Park. The Noatak flows generally westward approximately 675 km (420 miles) to the Chukchi Sea at Kotzebue Sound. The rivers entire course is north of the Arctic Circle. Leaving Gates of the Arctic National Park the river enters the Noatak National Preserve which exactly delineates the rivers watershed. The entire watershed of the Noatak River, not just the river itself, lies within these two protected areas, from the headwaters to where it leaves the Noatak National Preserve, which is a point approximately 20 river-miles upstream of Noatak village and 90 river-miles upstream of the rivers delta in Kotzebue Sound. Even on this last part of the river most of the watershed lies within either Noatak National Preserve or Cape Krusenstern National Monument, with only the immediate river valley outside of these protected areas. . This is the largest protected watershed basin in the U.S. The Noatak National Preserve alone encompasses . |
