More than 1,000 hectares, or 2,500 acres, of Costa Rica's prized wooded areas have been razed by 23 forest fires this year to date, according to the National Fire Management Program.

Three recent blazes in the last two weeks have charred a little over 600 hectares (almost 1,500 acres) of dry tropical forest in the northwest Guanacaste province, said Luis Diego Román, coordinator of the fire watchdog. Authorities still do not know what, or who, sparked the recent fires that are burning up swaths of the UNESCO world heritage site.

Román claimed that a number of forest fires were ignited by vengeful hunters or loggers whom police caught in the act of illegally killing animals or trees in the protected zone.

This year 21 fires have blazed through protected areas and two in privately owned farm land – most were sparked intentionally, the coordinator said.

During the dry season last year, there were 72 forest fires, of which 37 charred conservation land.

Costa Rican authorities are optimistic that the early rainy season will help put an end to the flames.

The total burned acreage is so far lower than last year's, according to Román, but he did not give a specific count for 2008.