News
Madrid to produce 300,000 native plants to restore the Sierra Oeste
The Comunidad de Madrid will triple the production of native forest plants to restore areas damaged by this summer's fires in the Sierra Oeste. The aim is to increase from the current 100,000 specimens to 300,000 during 2027 and 2028.
Production will be concentrated in the two nurseries managed by IMIDRA, located in El Escorial and at the experimental estate in Arganda del Rey. The Forest Germplasm Bank will also take part; it preserves seeds and plant material from different natural areas in the region.
The species to be grown include trees and shrubs common in Madrid's woodlands, such as holm oaks, Portuguese oaks, oaks, ash trees, rockroses, brooms and hawthorns. The intention is to use varieties adapted to the area and able to integrate better into ecosystems affected by fire.
The programme also includes species with different protection levels under the Regional Catalogue of Threatened Species. Madrid's nurseries produce specimens of yew, holly, strawberry tree, cork oak, wych elm and whitebeam, among other varieties.
A fundamental part of the process begins before the material reaches the nursery. IMIDRA teams collect seeds directly from woodlands, natural areas and seed sources in the Community of Madrid, making it possible to preserve genetic material native to the region.
Using local seeds increases the chances that the new plants will withstand the temperature, soil and water-availability conditions of the places where they will later be introduced. Restoration will therefore not consist solely of planting trees, but of progressively rebuilding ecosystems with species suited to each area.
The increase in production forms part of the planned actions to restore the Sierra Oeste after fires that have left extensive forest areas damaged. Regeneration will take years and will combine the natural evolution of the woodland with specific interventions where it is necessary to speed up recovery or prevent soil loss.
The first results will not be immediate. Many of the plants now beginning their journey in Madrid's nurseries will take years to become part of the Sierra Oeste landscape, but those 300,000 units will be one of the tools with which the region will try to return vegetation and biodiversity to land ravaged by fire.