Madera is one of the 67 municipalities of Chihuahua

Municipalities of Chihuahua

The Mexican state of Chihuahua is divided into 67 municipalities :...

, in the Sierra Nevada mountains of northern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. The municipal seat lies at Madera. The municipality covers an area of 8,158.8 km².

As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 32,031.

The economy is primarily based on logging

Logging

Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...

, madera meaning wood in Spanish. There is also some agriculture and cattle ranches in the municipality.

The municipality is also known for its caves and parks and within a 50 km radius of the town there are many caves featuring pre-Columbian artworks.

Towns and villages

The municipality has 226 localities. The largest are:

Name	Population
Madera	15,267
El Largo Maderal	4,021
Nicolás Bravo	2680
Las Varas	1429
Mesa del Huracán	1355
La Norteña	975
Nuevo Madera	450
Total Municipality	32,031