The area of the reserve is 2,482 km2 (958 sq mi), covering several types of boreal ecosystems, from bogs and taiga coniferous forests to subalpine meadows and mountain tundras.

The Imperial Ministry of Agriculture recognised the issue and in 1913 organised several expeditions in search for a suitable place to create hunting reserves.

[3] One of them, led by Georgiy Doppelmeyer, explored the Barguzinsky range, providing an extensive description of the local environment and economy[4] and eventually leading to the creation of the first public nature reserve in Russia in 1916.

In 2012, a unified governing body, FSE (Federal State Establishment) "Zapovednoye Podlemorye", was formed, merging the teams of the reserve and Zabaikalsky National Park.

[8][9] The Barguzin Nature Reserve is inhabited by moose (commonly called ‘elk’ in Eurasia), musk deer (known as kabarga), roe deer, Eurasian wild boar, Altai wapiti (known as ‘elk’ in North America), Ussuri brown bear, grey wolf, raccoon dogs, black-capped marmot, grouse, capercaillie, hare, Siberian lynx, yellow-throated marten.

The rest of the reserve is mountainous, with sparse dwarf pine vegetation on drier slopes, and shrubby alpine tundras on wetter ones.