Ever since the Sauerland was settled, the forest has been used in a variety of ways. Until about 200 years ago, the Sauerland forests consisted mainly of Buchenwald. The wood was used to build houses, as firewood, to produce charcoal and to make household goods.
Another widespread use of the forest was for herding. Cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys were driven into the forest by the local shepherds for feeding. In the fall, the pigs were fattened with acorns and beechnuts. Only in winter were the animals kept indoors.
In order to obtain bedding for the cattle and fertilizer for the fields, leaves were collected from the forest on a large scale and plaggen in the form of sod and forest soil was cut. The continuous removal of nutrients increasingly impoverished the forest soil.
Due to centuries of overuse of the forest, by 1800 only 1/3 of the Sauerland was still forested. Heids and grassy steppes with scattered trees and bushes replaced the formerly closed forests in large parts of the landscape. The remaining forests were coppice forests or overaged, sparse groves with huge trees with broad crowns.
In order to counteract the destruction of the forests, various regulations were introduced at the beginning of the 19th century to protect the forests. Cattle herding and the removal of leaf litter were banned. To counter the shortage of wood, large parts of the Heid were reforested with the non-native but undemanding spruce. The era of regulated forestry began. Only since this time has there been a strict separation between agricultural and forestry areas.
The sparse Buchenwald forests on the slopes of the Borberg form a stark contrast to the often gloomy-looking spruce forest. They correspond to the natural vegetation before the Sauerland was settled.
Report by a contemporary witness
Johann Nepomuk von Schwerz describes the Brilon district somewhat pathetically but impressively at the beginning of the 19th century as follows:"...If the farmland or private property is far away, the common pastures are even more so. The cows... have to make a journey of 2 to 3 hours every day to a forest district that is intended for their Weide. They return home in the evening, having traveled a distance of 5 to 6 hours. ...Without exaggeration, I can testify that there are people here, as in Altenbüren, who keep 6 cows, and if they don't have a goat on the side, they have to buy the milk ...for their breakfast." VON SCHWERZ (1836, P.26)