The climate in the East Siberian taiga is subarctic (the trees growing there are coniferous and deciduous) and displays high continentality, with extremes ranging from 40 °C (104 °F) to −65 °C (−85 °F) and possibly lower.

Throughout the ecoregion, smaller areas dominated by Siberian pine (Pinus sibirica), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Siberian spruce (Picea obovata), Pinus koraiensis, Juniperus communis, Quercus acutissima, Quercus mongolica, Ginkgo biloba, Prunus serrulata, Prunus padus, Tilia amurensis, Salix babylonica, Acer palmatum, Betula dahurica, Betula pendula, Populus tremula, Ulmus davidiana, Ulmus pumila, Pinus pumila, Haloxylon ammodendron, Elaeagnus angustifolia, Tamarix ramosissima, Prunus sibirica, and Siberian fir (Abies sibirica) can be found.

Birds of this ecoregion include the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), osprey (Pandion haliaetus), hazel grouse (Tetrastes bonasia), Siberian grouse (Falcipennis falcipennis), black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix), western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), black-billed capercaillie (Tetrao parvirostris), willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus), rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), black stork (Ciconia nigra), hooded crane (Grus monacha), carrion crow (Corvus corone), the Siberian blue and rufous-tailed robins (Luscinia cyane and L. sibilans, respectively), the thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia), Pallas's rosefinch (Carpodacus roseus), Pacific swift (Apus pacificus), common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), smew (Mergellus albellus), king eider (Somateria spectabilis), spectacled eider (Somateria fischeri) and Baikal teal (Anas formosa).

Because of the large environmental damage, their activities caused protests by local residents and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

[2][3] The actions of the Chinese companies pose a threat to the native population of Siberia and the Far East (Evenks, Udege et al.), depriving them of their habitat and traditional ways of life.