Moss Landing Wildlife Area is a California state preserve on Elkhorn Slough near Monterey Bay that protects 728 acres of marsh and wetland, including part of the largest unaltered salt marsh on the California coast. Once partly used as salt evaporation ponds for local fish canneries in the late 1800s, the site was transformed after those ponds were abandoned in 1974 and the wildlife area was established in 1984. Later habitat management made the former ponds especially important for shorebirds and western snowy plovers, while seasonal water control continues to support nesting and roosting. The preserve is also valued for birding, sea otter viewing, and quiet public access on foot.