The Community of Madrid announced on 13 August 2026 that it would Ley Forestal y de Protección de la Naturaleza to reform and prohibit the use of Arizónicas and other resinous hedges at the boundary between settlements and woodland. At the same time, a one-million-euro grant programme is intended to help property owners replace existing hedges near woodland with less fire-prone species. The president Isabel Díaz Ayuso made the announcement in Tres Cantos, one year after the fire in the area of Soto de Viñuelas in August 2025, in which one person died.
According to the regional government, experience of how the fire spread showed that dense, resin-rich hedges can encourage the spread of flames and make firefighting more difficult. The ban is to be incorporated into the reform of the Ley Forestal y de Protección de la Naturaleza; the executive is also preparing an amendment to the Ley del Arbolado Urbano to make it easier to remove these shrubs along property boundaries. The focus is on areas known as the urban-forestry interface, where vegetation management on private property has a direct impact on the risk to neighbouring homes.
The planned grant scheme totals one million euros and is intended to co-fund the replacement of existing Arizónicas with more resilient species. The Comunidad de Madrid will specify in subsequent implementing regulations which property owners are eligible to apply, how the procedures and deadlines will work, and exactly how the affected areas will be defined. So far, only the broad outlines are available.
Background and impact: Following the fire near Tres Cantos, the regional administration reviewed prevention and fuel management in Soto de Viñuelas and other peri-urban woodland areas. The measures affect municipalities and homeowners’ associations in northern Madrid, as well as nurseries and landscaping businesses, which will need to adapt their product ranges and advice. Environmental groups have for years highlighted the risks posed by fast-growing, resin-rich hedges in densely populated areas; the regional government is now taking up this argument. Claims about the ban’s effectiveness remain provisional: enforcement, maintenance requirements and the speed with which private hedges are actually replaced will be decisive. The government announced that it would set out the technical criteria and priorities in the coming weeks.
Editor: Andreas M. Brucker (Article created with AI assistance).