Las Hiedras Airport

There is no official documented reason for the closure. However, small, remote airstrips in this region of the Sierra Madre Occidental were often associated with private industries like logging or mining, or used for illicit purposes. The closure was most likely due to one or a combination of the following factors:
1. **Economic Reasons:** The cessation of the specific business activity (e.g., a local logging or mining operation) that the airstrip was built to support.
2. **Security and Law Enforcement:** Increased surveillance and operations by the Mexican military (SEDENA) against drug trafficking in the region. Many unofficial airstrips were forcibly disabled or abandoned by their operators to avoid seizure and prosecution.

The site is completely abandoned. Current satellite imagery shows a clearly defined but unmaintained dirt runway that is overgrown with vegetation and unusable for any aviation purposes. There is no visible infrastructure, such as hangars, terminals, or fueling facilities, indicating it was a very basic landing strip. The land is reverting to its natural state of high-desert scrubland.

Las Hiedras Airport was a small, unpaved, and unofficial airstrip. The identifier 'MX-2306' is not an official ICAO code (which start with 'MM' in Mexico) but rather a designation used by non-official aviation data aggregators. Its significance was purely local and private. It never handled commercial or scheduled flights. Operations would have been limited to light, single-engine, general aviation aircraft (such as Cessna 206s or Pilatus PC-6 Porters) capable of short and rough field takeoffs and landings. It likely served as a logistical link for a nearby ranch, logging camp, or mining exploration site, used for transporting personnel and light cargo to and from a remote, mountainous area.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Las Hiedras Airport. Given its state of disrepair, remote location, and the existence of the official Madera Airport (ICAO: MMMD) approximately 28 km (17 miles) to the southeast, there is no logistical or economic incentive for its reactivation. Any effort to reopen it would require significant investment to clear, grade, and certify the runway, which is highly unlikely.