The Uda River basin is located in the Tuguro-Chumikanskiy region of Khabarovskyi krai (territory). The name Uda comes from the Yakut word "ud" (milk). The river was given that name because of a lake with turbid, milky colored water. The environment of the Uda watershed is for the most part in pristine, unaltered condition. There are no roads here (except for one ice road in winter) and the primary activities of local people are hunting and fishing.

Besides pink, chum, red, and coho salmon many other salmonids live here: Siberian taimen, two forms of lenok, and Amur grayling. Taimen, which have become rare in many Siberian rivers, are still numerous here. The taimen of the Uda River are very large in size, weighing up to 95 kg. This population of taimen is unique because the bigger taimen of the Uda start feeding on anadromous salmon.

The mineral resources of the area have been little studied. To date, it is known that some deposits of complex apatite-titanium, iron, manganese, copper-nickel, and cobalt ores exist, as well as two deposits of semi-precious stones, phosphorites, mercury, stream (alluvial) gold and brown coal. Because of the low population density in the Uda River basin, the ecological condition of the watershed ecosystems is good. At present, the water quality is much better compared to the 1980s when gold mining was developed in the region. The main causes of damages to fish populations in the Uda River watershed are poaching and small-scale gold mining that still continues in some tributaries. Establishing a new salmon biodiversity Special Protected Area in the Uda watershed would be very expensive, primarily because of the significant distance of the most promising upper stretch of the basin from any roads or airports. We believe that the most important goal of salmon protection in the basin over the next several years is the preservation of the large, healthy chum population. In future it may also be possible to establish a special taimen zakaznik in the upper part of the Uda watershed.