Extremadura removes 46.51 hectares of public woodland from the registry in Talayuela

The Governing Council of the Junta de Extremadura authorized on October 6, 2026, the exclusion from the Catalog of Public Utility Forests of a total of 46.51 hectares of forest no. 82 “Dehesa Boyal”, owned by the municipality of Talayuela (Cáceres), as a prevailing public interest over the forestry interest was identified. The agreement is published in the Official Gazette of Extremadura no. 206, of October 26, 2026, through two resolutions by the Councilor for Industry, Energy, Science, and Territory, Mercedes Morán Álvarez, with references 2026062641 and 2026062643.

Two agreements on the same forest

The decataloging is structured into two independent files, both processed by the General Directorate of Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy of the Ministry of Forestry Management and Rural World, which together total the 46.51 derectified hectares:

• 7.72 hectares (0.68% of the forest), corresponding to the swimming pool area, the cemetery, and the sports city (2026062641).
• 38.79 hectares (3.42% of the forest), destined for industrial use—two evaporation ponds for the olive dressing industry—and residential use (2026062643).

Public utility forest no. 82 has a total area of 1,134.49 hectares, meaning the excluded areas do not reach 4.1% of the boundary. The agreement specifies that the exclusion refers “solely and exclusively” to the reflected surface and that the rest of the forest maintains its status and the same legal regime of the public forestry domain.

Consolidated uses versus the public forestry domain

The technical reports incorporated into the files maintain that uses unrelated to the forestry nature have been developed in the affected areas for decades: more than forty years in the case of the 7.72 hectares, with a municipal cemetery established for over sixty years, and at least fifteen years in the 38.79 hectares. The General Directorate of Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy concludes that these are areas that “have irreversibly lost their natural aptitude” and that the regularization “will optimize the management of the public forest” by adapting the legal framework of the public domain to its material reality.

The legal basis invoked is Article 16.5 of Law 43/2003, of November 21, on Forests, which allows, on an exceptional basis and by agreement of the highest regional governing body, the exclusion of part of a cataloged forest due to a prevailing public interest. The agreement expressly resolves the discrepancy with Article 235 of Law 6/2015, of March 24, Agrarian Law of Extremadura, in favor of the state regulation due to its basic nature.

From the municipal plenary to public information

The processing began on April 10, 2026, when the mayor of Talayuela requested partial decataloging in execution of two municipal plenary agreements adopted on March 27, 2026. The procedure’s timeline was as follows:

• May 12, 2026: decataloging report from the head of the Technical Section of Forestry Programs of Eastern Cáceres.
• May 26, 2026: favorable report from the head of the Forestry Planning and Management Service.
• June 12, 2026: request to the Talayuela City Council, which responded on June 18 expressing agreement with the proposed terms and delimitation.
• June 22, 2026: opening of the public information period, announced in the Official Gazette of Extremadura no. 125, dated July 1, 2026.
• July 6 to August 9, 2026: posting of the announcement on the municipal notice board, with no objections filed.

The agreement provides that the General Directorate of Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy shall make the necessary annotations in the Catalog to adapt the description of forest plot no. 82 to its new configuration and orders its notification to the city council.

Appeal Process

Against the agreement, which concludes the administrative process, an optional appeal for reversal may be filed before the Governing Council of the Junta de Extremadura within one month from the day following its publication, or a contentious-administrative appeal may be filed before the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Extremadura within two months.

The decision removes from the forestry public domain land occupied by sports facilities, a cemetery, housing, and industrial ponds in the municipality of Talayuela, a town with a strong agro-industrial olive processing sector. The agreement emphasizes that the measure does not compromise the conservation of the rest of the delimited area and that the remaining surface of forest plot no. 82 fully retains its protection as public forestry domain, inalienable, imprescriptible, and exempt from seizure.

Source: Official Gazette of Extremadura, no. 206, dated October 26, 2026, section III (official references: 2026062641 and 2026062643).