The steadily increasing consumption of wood by the pits and smelting works led to overexploitation of the forests and, from about 1700, to their outright destruction. There were no less than 30,000 charcoal piles in the Harz. In 1707, an order by Count Ernst of Stolberg forbade Brocken guides to take strangers or local folk to the Brocken without special permission, and the lighting of fires was forbidden. The first attempts at forest conservation in the Harz were centred on the Brocken, and began with a far-sighted nature conservation act over 275 years ago. In 1718, Count Christian Ernest of the House of Stolberg issued an ordinance in which destruction or damage to the forest on the Brocken would be severely punished. In 1736, Christian Ernest also built the Wolkenhäuschen ("Little House in the Clouds") on the Brocken.
The steadily increasing consumption of wood by the pits and smelting works led to overexploitation of the forests and from about 1700 to their outright destruction There were no less than 30000 charcoal piles in the Harz In 1707 an order by Count Ernst of Stolberg forbade Brocken guides to take strangers or local folk to the Brocken without special permission and the lighting of fires was forbidden The first attempts at forest conservation in the Harz were centred on the Brocken and began with a far-sighted nature conservation act over 275 years ago In 1718 Count Christian Ernest of the House of Stolberg issued an ordinance in which destruction or damage to the forest on the Brocken would be severely punished In 1736 Christian Ernest also built the Wolkenhäuschen ("Little House in the Clouds") on the Brocken