Guanacaste Conservation Area

Guanacaste Conservation Area is an administrative area which is managed by the Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservacion (SINAC) of Costa Rica for the purposes of conservation in the northwestern part of Costa Rica. It contains three national parks, as well as wildlife refuges and other nature reserves. The area contains the Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site, which comprises four areas.

The Guanacaste Conservation Area, located in Northwest Costa Rica, is a 163,000 hectare expanse of protected land and sea. It extends from 19 kilometres (12 mi) out in the Pacific Ocean to about 105 kilometres (65 mi) inland, ending in the Costa Rican lowlands near the Atlantic Ocean.

Across this large area, four of the five major tropical ecosystems are found: marine/coastal, dry forest, rainforest, and cloud forest. Desert is the only ecosystem type not represented. This protected area contains the largest amount of dry forest from Mexico to Panama. The area's altitude ranges from sea level to 1,916 metres (6,286 ft) above sea level at the peak of the dormant Santa María volcano. Four other volcanoes are found in the entire Guanacaste Conservation Area: the Cacoa, Orosí, and Rincón de la Vieja volcanoes are active, while the Cerro Von Seebach volcano lies dormant.

There are at least 32 rivers and 16 streams that originate close to the Rincón de la Vieja volcano and flow into the Tempisque River watershed. As part of the Riberino Zapandi Wetlands reserve, this watershed is of great ecological and agricultural value, providing habitat for aquatic organisms and a source of irrigation for farming land. Other aquatic and semi-aquatic areas that the Guanacaste Conservation Area span are open marine zones, marine islands, many of which are uninhabited, rocky coasts, dune systems, and beaches, including 20 kilometers of sea turtle nesting grounds.

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