The reserve is 95% forested, with the largest stand of yew trees in the Russian Far East, and has been the subject of scientific study since the 1800s for its rich communities of plants and animals found in the transition mountain to maritime zones in a temperate, rainy forest.

It is jointly managed with the Zov Tigra National Park, located about 50 km to the northwest.

[1][2] The reserve is bounded by the valleys of the Kyevka and Tchornaya Rivers, as they stream from the mountain ridge that runs along the northwest border, down to the sea to the east.

Approximately 50 km of the territory is coastline on the Sea of Japan, with rocky character and cliffs that reach to 100 meters above the water.

Unlike most temperate forest ecoregions, the levels of biodiversity and endemism are high in the Ussur broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion due to the close proximity of multiple climate zones and variety of terrain.

This climate is characterized by high variation in temperature, both daily and seasonally; with dry winters and cool summers.