North Landing River Natural Area Preserve is a three thousand four hundred forty-one-acre protected wetland area along the lower North Landing River in Virginia Beach. Dedicated in 1990 as Virginia’s first Natural Area Preserve, it consists almost entirely of wetlands, including five types considered rare in the Commonwealth. Its pocosins are especially significant because that habitat has become increasingly scarce across the southeastern United States, while forested swamps and freshwater tidal marshes add to its ecological diversity. These habitats support numerous rare species and provide important refuge for breeding and wintering waterfowl. Planned reopening in 2016 or 2017 paired public access improvements with continued low-impact conservation use.