Due to varying sizes, shapes, hydrologic regimes and vegetative communities, the complex has a high level of biodiversity. The sinkhole ponds range in age from 8,000 to 800,000 years and contain thick sequences of pollen bearing sediments that describe a long paleoclimatic and vegetative history of the prehistoric past. The complexity and variety of the complex, as well as some of the current and recent research projects conducted in the area will be discussed, with a strong focus on the geology of the complex and its formation. The North Landing River Natural Area Preserve encompasses 2,650 acres of estuarine and palustrine wetlands in a riparian setting. These include pocosins, Atlantic white cedar swamps, canebrakes, low salinity estuarine marshes and palustrine marshes.
Fire is a key ecological force influencing the wetlands of the North Landing River.
The wetlands depend on fire to recycle nutrients, enhance habitat for a multitude of common as well as rare species, and maintain the rare pocosin and canebrake communities. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, and the Virginia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy jointly manage the North Landing River Preserve. Management includes the use of prescribed burns to perpetuate the wetland habitats that depend on fire. The field trip will feature a canoe trip through the most remote and pristine reaches of this blackwater system, where you will see bald cypress and Atlantic white cedar swamps, broad marshes, and a host of critters including frogs, turtles, water moccasins, osprey and kingfishers. Availability will be very limited.