The Community of Madrid has just taken a key step towards literally multiplying its large green lung. The regional government has approved a request to expand the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park by 1,601 hectares, bringing it to almost 34,000 hectares, which will place it practically on a par with Madrid’s Casa de Campo in terms of protected area. The objective, in the words of the Executive, is to “bring nature down to all Madrileños,” that is, to bring areas of high ecological value closer to everyday life in a region where almost half of the territory is already protected by some form of protection.
The proposal, which is part of the declaration of 2026 as the Year of the Environment, would increase the protected area of the park in Madrid by 7.4%, adding new mountains, pastures, and forests of high value, bringing the total to 33,960 hectares. It is not just a question of drawing a larger green patch on the map: the expansion seeks to reinforce the diversity of ecosystems, improve ecological connectivity with other protected areas such as the regional parks of the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares and the Curso Medio del Guadarrama, and, at the same time, better distribute the more than 2.5 million visitors that this environment receives each year, alleviating pressure on the most saturated areas.
Madrid Forestal: the renaturalization of the region
The plan comes with an investment of €160 million as part of the Madrid Forestal program , the new plan to boost the forestry sector that the Community will roll out between 2026 and 2030 to improve trees and vegetation, strengthen fire prevention, and renaturalize peri-urban areas. The idea is that the region’s great natural environment should not be confined to the peaks of Peñalara or the most remote valleys, but should “descend” towards municipalities, metropolitan areas, and green corridors connected to the capital, in parallel with projects such as the Metropolitan Forest promoted by the City Council.
If the expansion is approved by the Autonomous National Parks Agency, Guadarrama will take a leap forward that will consolidate it as one of the great biodiversity reserves in the center of the peninsula, with an area comparable (in total protected size) to that of the Casa de Campo multiplied by twenty. For the people of Madrid, the practical implications are clear: more marked trails, more land protected from urbanization, and a network of green spaces that, as they grow and connect with each other, bring nature a little closer to home. And for the region, it sends a political and environmental message in the midst of the climate crisis: the future of Madrid also depends on its forests and the ability to turn them into a shared and accessible heritage.