The reserve operates under the direction of the University of Costa Rica and the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE).

For the administration of the Reserve, the Council of the University of Costa Rica at San Ramón (known as West Branch) approved in Session No.

521 of June 9, 1993, the Standards for the management of the station Alberto Manuel Brenes Biological Reserve.

Most of the publications (45%) are associated with plants, 12.6% with fungi and lichens, 2.5% birds, 11.4% to arthropods, 3.8% to reptiles and amphibians, 16.4% with soils, nutrients and climate, 7% with administrative and outreach, and 1.3% in phytochemistry.

According to the classification system of Holdridge life zones (1967),[1] just over 80% of the total area of the reserve is located in the Premontane rainforest, about 10% corresponds to the life zone of Lower montane rainforest, which corresponds to the upper parts of the row of dead volcanos and mountains in the north eastern boundary, a small percentage (less than 1%) on the southern boundary corresponds to the life zone of the Very humid Premontane forest.