The most significant feature of the reserve is Nearie Lake, which makes up approximately 2,140 hectares (44%) of the reserve. It is one of the deepest lakes in the Darling Anabranch, an ancestral channel of the Darling River, and provides an important refuge for waterbirds as floodwaters dry up in the system and is an important waterbird breeding area.
Nearie Lake Nature Reserve contains one vegetation community that is considered endangered, and three communities that are uncommon and poorly reserved. It also protects part of a threatened aquatic ecological community, and one threatened plant and six threatened animal species.
Aboriginal heritage of the area dates back to at least 36,000 years. A number of Aboriginal sites have been recorded in and around Nearie Lake Nature Reserve, including burials, stone arrangements, open camp sites and middens.
