Queralbs auctions wood felled by windstorms in the Estremera Forest

The Queralbs City Council has called for a public auction for the extraordinary forestry exploitation of timber felled by the effects of the windstorms of February and March 2026 in the public utility forest Bosc d’Estremera, CUP G-13, located in the municipality of Queralbs. The call is made by Mayoral Decree of September 25, 2026, and is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Girona no. 194, of October 8, 2026 (official reference CVE BOP-2026_0_194_8547, p. 1-1). The announcement is signed by the mayor, Maria Immaculada Constans Ruiz, with an electronic signature date of September 30, 2026.

The call is made to comply with the provisions of the Specific Administrative Clauses regulating the forestry exploitation auction and, at the same time, to ensure the maximum possible competition in the process. The exploitation is extraordinary in nature and responds directly to the damage caused by the windstorm to the municipality’s protected forest mass.

An extraordinary exploitation to avoid forest pests

The object of the auction is not an ordinary timber exploitation, but the removal of fallen trees from forest roads. The operation pursues three purposes declared in the announcement:

• To allow access to the mountains, currently hindered by fallen trees.
• To extract the fallen timber, as far as possible, to take advantage of its value.
• To avoid subsequent damage caused by forest pests, a risk associated with dead wood remaining in the forest.

The extraordinary nature of the measure responds to the origin of the damage: the windstorms of February and March 2026, which directly affected the public utility forest Bosc d’Estremera, identified with the code CUP G-13.

Auction by lots and a deadline of ten business days

The award will be made through a public auction and will be resolved based on the criterion of the best economic offer for each lot. The operational aspects of the call are as follows:

• Calling body: the Queralbs City Council, by mayoral decree.
• Date of the calling decree: September 25, 2026.
• Award criterion: best economic offer per lot.
• Deadline for submission of offers: 10 business days.
• Reference documentation: specific administrative clauses and technical conditions of the exploitation.

The clauses and technical conditions can be consulted on the contractor profile of the Queralbs City Council. Offers must be submitted in accordance with the conditions set out in the clauses.

An episode framed within the storm damage in the region

The Queralbs auction is not an isolated case. Five days earlier, the Official Gazette of the Province of Girona no. 191, of October 5, 2026 (reference CVE BOP-2026_0_191_8437), published an equivalent call from the Campdevànol City Council for extraordinary forest exploitation derived from the same windthrows, in this case in the public utility forest Forest Baga de Grats, in plots 1b and 1d of the Font Querol – L’Empalme area and plot 17040A003001200000JF. That call was made by Mayoral Decree no. 2026DECR000439, of September 17, 2026, and was signed by Mayor Oriol Lázaro Llovera.

The two cases share the same scheme: mayoral decree, public auction by lots, best economic offer criterion, and a submission deadline of ten business days. They also share the same technical justification: the need to remove fallen wood before it becomes a focus for pests and an obstacle to forest management.

Relevance for the sector

The call opens an opportunity to purchase wood for companies in the forestry and primary processing sector, in a context of massive removal of fallen trees in the Girona regions. For the municipality of Queralbs, the auction is also a risk management measure: clearing the roads and extracting fallen wood reduces the spread of pests and facilitates the recovery of access to the mountains. Interested parties have ten business days to submit an offer according to the conditions of the specifications.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Girona, no. 194, October 8, 2026, Local Administration, p. 1-1 (official reference: CVE BOP-2026_0_194_8547).