I've seen this issue in the FO3 GECK myself, There is some key combination to hide the landscape but, I don't know what it is. I experienced this after my 3 month old (at the time ) kitten decided it would be fun to stomp all across my keyboard. I deleted all GECK related .ini's from my documents\my games\Fallout 3 folder and, relaunched the GECK. This reset all preferences to default and, I could see the landscape again, I'm not sure if this fix will work with the NV GECK but, it's worth a try.
Sorry I don't have an easier solution, I tried to look for the key combination but, I couldn't find it.
hope this helps.
cev
Edit: after a little more thought I looked at the view\show hide box. If you check the terrain box and, save your mod, then quit and, relaunch your issue should be fixed. I tested this in reverse, ticked the box, hit the F5 "Re-render" key and, my landscape was gone. I saved, when I relaunched the GECK it was still gone so, I ticked the box again, saved and, relaunched, my landscape showed properly.