"The tree you see here is a young sapodilla that was never tapped for its sap and more than likely never will. Chicle extraction for the production of chewing gum was an important economic resource, which attracted resin tappers, or chicleros, at El Pilar.

Don Arnulfo Manzanero came to El Pilar in 1940 to farm the land and extract chicle. His son, Abel Manzanero would often join him as well as twenty other chicleros. These chicleros would swing a rope around the tree for support and along with spurs connected to their shoes they would climb these tall sapodilla trees like spider monkeys. They would make slashes in the bark of the tree in a zigzag fashion allowing the sap to drip into a rubber lined sack at the base of the trunk.

Good and lucky chicleros like Don Arnulfo could tap from 6 to 10 sapodilla trees daily. Each tree would provide from 4 to 5 pounds of white sap, equaling a weeks production of over 150 pounds of chicle, and a pound was sold for 30 cents. But never mind, this income resembled the salary of today's schoolteacher. Flour, beans and rice cost 10 cents a pound and sugar was 5 cents.

The forest provided raw materials, but they always required time to recover. Once a sapodilla was 'bled', it was left for a period of six to eight years in order to replenish its resources. Similarly, today, the forest at El Pilar is recovering from the many uses and its natural environment is once again reversing to its original state." -- EP Community Creek Trail Guide