El Hacha Sector protects 7,892 hectares of mostly dry forest with some areas of humid tropical forest (northeastern and southeastern limits with Orosí Sector of the ACG) and is bordered to the north by the road to Santa Cecilia, La Cruz. This sector, like most parts of the ACG, was privately owned farmland dedicated to agriculture which utilized fire as a principal management tool for hundreds of years. Today, the forest of this protected area is returning through natural restoration made possible by the ACG's management scheme of forest fire control, prohibition of hunting, and the elimination of livestock and agriculture. The lowlands of this sector have had the most successful restoration of its forest while in the highlands a native grass, Trachypogon plumosus, is recuperating its population on El Hacha Hill.

This sector receives its name from the prominent land formation, El Hacha Hill (300-500 m), an old volcano worn by time and erosion.

Sectors Program Management

Los Almendros is the station for this sector where local parataxonomists do research and sectors program staff watch for forest fires during the dry season and patrol for illegal hunting as well as collaborate with researchers and parataxonomists in field work collecting samples and observations for studies of the dry forest ecosystem conducted by different institutions. Other staff duties include maintenance of trails, roads, and buildings as well as caring for the sector's horses used for patrolling.  

History

El Hacha's territory includes lands that were once ranched dedicated to agriculture. To the north and northeast of El Hacha Hill was El Amo Ranch, El Hacha Ranch, Agua Buena Ranch, and La Guitarra Ranch, among others, all owned by Luis Roberto Gallegos. Lands to the south and southeast were owned by the Colonia, a group of 16 small-scale farmers from Santa Elena, Monteverde in Puntarenas who bought the land around 1980. These land owners were open to negotiating the sell of their lands and Mr. Gallegos understood the value of the area as an important hydrological resource.  Although some areas had already been deforested, including the Colonia group's logging of a third of the only forest remaining on El Hacha Hill in order to cultivate corn and beans improving the value of the land in the eyes of the landowners, they were included in Dr. Daniel H. Janzen's proposal for the creation of Guanacaste National Park, "Biological and Cultural Restoration of the Dry Forest."