I have been trying to sort out a bit of fact from fiction as regards what you can do with and around forests. IN the end I asked the Forestale. I am putting my summary here in case it helps others.
However .... a disclaimer: The following is my understanding of the Forestale and what they do. I think it  is reasonably accurate but it may not be so please check it out, with them. Cheers


The “Forestales” are the ”forestry engineers” of the Generalitat de Catalunya, while the “Agents Rurals” are the forest guards and patrol forest sites. The Forestale give information and advice to the forest owners from a practical and legal point of view. They can be contacted by calling the Generalitat, (when you phone them you can ask to speak to someone in English).
The Forestale’s main Terres de l’Ebre office is in Amposta (also there are comarcal offices in Tortosa, Gandesa and Mora d’Ebre). You can request a visit from their technical staff, who may speak English.

Managing Woodland

CAN DO
You do not need approval for general maintenance work in forest areas, such as making tracks, clearing undergrowth and felling to thin out crowded trees.

CANNOT DO
You must not damage native palm plants (margalló / palmito). They are protected.

PERMISSION/NOTIFICATION
Depending on the use and size of the product (wood, firewood…) it is necessary to either ask for permission from the Administration or just notify them in writing. It is the same form for both purposes. It is the "comunicació d'aprofitament…”.

You have to ask permission if you are:
•      Cutting wood and firewood with commercial character, ie. all those that have the aim to sell the products, of species of slow growth (pine, oak…).
You only have to notify the activity if you are:
•      Cutting wood and firewood with commercial character, but only species of fast growth (poplar, eucalyptus…) or when the finca has an approved forest management document
•      Cutting wood and firewood not to sell and not exceeding 2 tones / year (i.e. domestic consumption for the finca)
•      Cutting trees that died in a forest fire.

If you are asking permission and get it, then technical conditions may added to it.

The permission / notification lasts one year.
If after 15 days there is no answer from Generalitat, the work is approved or notification accepted, and normally it doesn’t need site visit.

You do need permission / notification for changing the area of land that is forest, even if this was previously designated for olives but has since become predominately forest and you want to return it to olive production.

Fires
There are limits to when you can have a fire, if you are within 500m of a forest. There are 3 general categories for outdoor fires (i.e. to burn prunings etc,, not those not using chimneys with spark protectors). These and the dates applicable may be changed by the Forestale.
•      Green – Oct 16th to March 14th. You can notify the Forestale with a form which last the whole season from an adjuntament (not necessarily your own) but this is not necessary in practice.
•      Red – June 15th to September 15th – Fires are totally prohibited and you must not do anything to increase the fuel that is on the ground e.g. pruning and leaving the brash to burn later.
•      Yellow – between Green and Red – Fires are not permitted without explicit permission.

The Forestale are concerned about the safety of people living in the campo and have a leaflet, in English, on the topic.
It is good practice to:
•      remove all undergrowth and branches up to 3m (or 1/3 of the height of small trees);
•      ensure that access routes are passable by fire vehicles i.e. the width of a truck and 3m high.

People living inside specially dense forests zones (with very high forest fire risk), could also contact the Fire Service (Bombers de la Generalitat de Catalunya) to get advice of the best security measures to be taken (communication, prevention, access, exits,...).

and on Hunting
Roads and the areas around houses are safe areas where hunters should not shoot.
Hunters don’t have more right to access to land than any other person, they are required to respect private property and signals i.e. there is no right of access to land for hunters or anyone else. However hunters will presume they can access land unless they are told otherwise. 

Stopping hunting on your land can be done by informing the local “sociedad de cazadores”. They will then arrange for the black and white signs to be put up around your land (which mean that hunters should not go onto your land).

Feb 2012

Hi Coll dalba, Thanks for the info. spells it out once and for all.