I live fairly well inside a city and I can not cut down any tree above a certain size
even if it is on my property and I bought and planted it myself.
I did build a deck behind my house but it had to be built to a minimum standard in case someone stepped on a floor board, it broke and the person sued me for a broken leg or so.
So regulations are needed. Stringent ones in dicy situations.

Air strip would depend on for what size of aircraft.
Start with a clearing, runway (compacted earth or hardened ashphalt/concrete with thick base), wind sock, shack with an out house, electricity with a radio tower, radio operator, perhaps night lights, crash assistance - fire and medical, radar, the list goes on and grows with scale of operation. Perhaps operating licence fee is one issue.

But with the billions of trees out there what difference cutting a few hundred or even a couple of thousand could make? Did they build it on their own land or public?
I still think someone's feathers were ruffled.

Fuel spillage in a crash could be an environmental problem so there I could concede cause for trepidation.