Madeira authorities checked around 5,500 users of classified pedestrian trails since the beginning of April during a regional operation on access fees and trail rules. The Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation, known as IFCN, said inspectors found 43 cases in which visitors had not paid the mandatory fee for official walking routes. Those people were fined 50 euros and paid the amount during the inspection process. The IFCN also recorded seven infractions for illegal entry onto closed walking routes since the beginning of 2026, involving eight people. In those cases, authorities imposed fines of 250 euros, according to Manuel Filipe. The inspections are carried out at random by forestry police officers and environmental wardens, now both on the trails themselves and not only at the entrances. Among the most inspected routes were Vereda do Areeiro, Levada das 25 Fontes, Caminho do Pináculo e Folhadal and Caminho Real da Encumeada. At the same event marking 10 years of the IFCN, Eduardo Jesus rejected claims that Fanal Forest is suffering degradation from visitor pressure.
