Heather rights allowed residents of a specific area to cut heather or sods, which were used as bedding in stables and later as fertilizer. Sometimes, the bedding accumulated almost to the ceiling of the farm, leaving just enough room for the animals to stand. Heather typically began to grow after all the trees were removed, as few other plants besides heather and some grasses could thrive. Heather still helped a little bit to prevent sand encroachment, so this issue worsened when more heather was removed, leaving large expanses of drifting sands. The Wester Wüste is an example of a former forest that became a heather field and is now mostly a sand plain due to overfarming, deforestation, and the depletion of trees and heather.
