Bush Mill Stream Natural Area Preserve is a 103-acre (42 ha) Natural Area Preserve in Northumberland County, Virginia. The preserve protects an area of fresh and brackish tidal wetlands at the confluence of the freshwater Bush Mill Stream and the saltwater Great Wicomico River, which serves as important habitat for numerous species of birds.
Caledon State Park is a 2,579-acre (10.44 km2) state park located in King George, Virginia. The property was initially owned by the Alexander brothers, founders of the city of Alexandria, and was established in 1659 as Caledon Plantation. Ownership passed, in 1974, to the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Big Spring Bog Natural Area Preserve is a 50-acre (20 ha) Natural Area Preserve located in Grayson County, Virginia. The terrain is hilly, and within its borders is Chestnut Creek, a tributary of the New River. The preserve features a rare wetland known as a "cranberry glade".
Cherry Orchard Bog Natural Area Preserve is a 354-acre (143 ha) Natural Area Preserve located in Sussex and Prince George counties, Virginia. The preserve is owned and maintained by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). It does not include improvements for public access, and visitors must make arrangements with a state-employed land steward prior to visiting. The preserve is located along the right of way for a power line, receiving acidic, low-nutrient groundwater.
Chestnut Creek Wetlands Natural Area Preserve is a 244-acre (99 ha) Natural Area Preserve located in Floyd County, Virginia. Local wetlands support several rare species, while the upland slopes support northern hardwoods including beech, birch, and maple. The area has a long farming and grazing history, but the wetlands have survived, dominated by sedges and grasses with few trees and shrubs. The property was acquired using a voter-approved state government bond and a recovery grant from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Chub Sandhill Natural Area Preserve is a 1,066-acre (4.31 km2) Natural Area Preserve located in Sussex County, Virginia. It contains a group of low sandhills and riparian wetlands along the Nottoway River. Much of the region's original vegetation has been lost, but the preserve supports such remnants as queen's delight, golden puccoon, and hoary scurf-pea. Sand post oak, rare in Virginia, may also be found in the woods, as may a number of native legumes.
Cleveland Barrens Natural Area Preserve is a 1,288-acre (5.21 km2) Natural Area Preserve located within the Clinch River Valley in Russell County, Virginia.
Dameron Marsh Natural Area Preserve is a 316-acre (128 ha) Natural Area Preserve located in Northumberland County, Virginia. It is one in a series of protected areas lining the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, and contains one of the region's most significant wetlands for marsh-bird habitats. Its pristine beaches serve as a home for the northeastern beach tiger beetle. Some of the land had been used in the past for agriculture, however these former fields were restored to forest through the combined efforts of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, The Nature Conservancy, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
False Cape Natural Area Preserve is a 3,573-acre (14.46 km2) Natural Area Preserve located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, just north of the state border with North Carolina. The preserve covers a one-by-six-mile strip of largely undeveloped land located on False Cape between the Atlantic Ocean and Back Bay, and is one of the most undisturbed areas of coastal habitat remaining in the Mid-Atlantic.
Folly Mills Creek Fen Natural Area Preserve is a Natural Area Preserve located in Augusta County, Virginia. The preserve was dedicated in 1998, and was the first privately owned Natural Area Preserve to be dedicated in the state.
Goshen Pass Natural Area Preserve is a 936-acre (3.79 km2) Natural Area Preserve located in Rockbridge County, Virginia. The oldest state-managed natural area in Virginia, it was first acquired in 1954 to help protect views of the gorge along the Maury River. The site contains stands of chestnut oak, pine-oak-heath woodland, rocky scrub communities, regionally rare plants such as freshwater cordgrass, and habitat for the Appalachian jewelwing, a locally rare damselfly. The site was dedicated as a preserve in 2001.
Grayson Glades Natural Area Preserve is a 31-acre (13 ha) Natural Area Preserve located in Grayson County, Virginia. Its centerpiece is an extremely rare wetland type known as a "mafic fen", which are situated upon soils rich in magnesium and fed by springs. The site is at the headwaters of a small stream system supporting additional mafic fens.
Hughlett Point Natural Area Preserve is a 204-acre (0.83 km2) Natural Area Preserve located in Northumberland County, Virginia. It preserves various types of habitat, including tidal and non-tidal wetlands, undeveloped beaches, dunes, and upland forests. Among the species living on the property is the northeastern beach tiger beetle, as well as other rare invertebrates. Hughlett Point is also an important staging area for various species of migrating bird.
Johnsons Creek Natural Area Preserve is a 99-acre (40 ha) Natural Area Preserve located in Alleghany County, Virginia. It contains a variety of trees, including ancient red cedars, oaks, and pines, all of which stand on steep shale bluffs overlooking Johnsons Creek.
Mutton Hunk Fen Natural Area Preserve is a 516-acre (2.09 km2) Natural Area Preserve located in Accomack County, Virginia. Fronting on the Atlantic Ocean's Gargathy Bay to the east, it is also bounded by Whites Creek and Mutton Hunk Branch to its north. The property contains a rare "sea level fen" community, one of only four in Virginia. Despite the proximity to the ocean's saltwater, freshwater wetland plants are able to survive in this environment due to the influence of freshwater springs. Acidic conditions also encourage the growth of plants normally found in bogs, in addition to tidal freshwater wetland plants; five of the species found at the preserve are regionally rare.
Parkers Marsh Natural Area Preserve is a 759-acre (307 ha) Natural Area Preserve located in Accomack County, Virginia. The preserve incorporates beach habitat along the Chesapeake Bay as well as low marsh, high marsh, shrubland, and forest vegetation; the wetlands provide a home for many different species of animals and plants. About 75% of the site is saltmarsh. Marsh elder and black cherry may be found on old dune ridges on the site, as may loblolly pine. Some lower dunes support various grassland species. Peregrine falcons have nested in the area since 1998, and the rare saltmarsh sparrow has been observed nesting at the site. In addition, the beach provides a home for the northeastern beach tiger beetle, listed as threatened in the United States.
Pinnacle Natural Area Preserve is an 891-acre (361 ha) Natural Area Preserve in Russell County, Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Clinch River and Big Cedar Creek, the preserve's namesake and centerpiece is the Pinnacle, a dolomite formation rising 400 feet (120 m) above the creek.
Redrock Mountain Natural Area Preserve is a 640-acre (260 ha) Natural Area Preserve located in Smyth County, Virginia. The preserve is named for the 4,413-foot (1,345 m) Redrock Mountain, which itself is named for its red siltstone cliffs. It supports a number of rare natural features, and two natural community types, including examples of "mountain/piedmont basic woodlands" upon the mountain's slopes, and "rich cove/slope forests" in the preserve's lowlands. Five rare plant species are found on the property, including spring blue-eyed Mary, fringed scorpion-weed, and Carey saxifrage.
Unthanks Cave Natural Area Preserve is a 171-acre (69 ha) Natural Area Preserve in Lee County, Virginia. It protects the entrance to Unthanks Cave, which houses significant biological diversity and a wide variety of invertebrate life. The cave's streams drain a significant karst area south of the Powell River.
The Virginia Natural Area Preserve System is a system of protected areas in the state of Virginia. It is managed by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.
