Neverteheless, a better-known mountain is Smrk (1124 m, 3,688 feet), with a recently rebuilt look-out tower.

In 1281, Duke Bernard the Lightsome of the Piast dynasty granted a portion of the Izera Mountains to the Knights Hospitaller from Strzegom.

The Tabulový kámen (German: Tafelstein, 1072 m) on the northern edge of the Smrk Mountain marked the border between the properties of the Counts of Gallas [de; cs] in Friedland, Bohemia, the von Gersdorff family from Meffersdorf (Unięcice, now part of Pobiedna), Upper Lusatia and the Counts of Schaffgotsch from Schreiberhau (Szklarska Poręba), Lower Silesia.

The German population of the area was expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement and replaced by Poles on the Polish and Czechs on the Czechoslovakian side of the mountains.

The ecosystem was badly hit by emissions, produced by lignite fired power stations located in the Zittau basin, part of Europe's ecological Black Triangle.

Emission filters were installed at the immense Turów Power Station in Bogatynia on the Polish side of Lusatian Neisse.

The towns surrounding the mountains include Liberec, Frýdlant v Čechách, Nové Město pod Smrkem, Świeradów Zdrój, Szklarska Poręba, Desná, Tanvald and Jablonec nad Nisou.

[4] This landscape protection contains several reserves, including the Jizera Dark Sky Park (Rašeliniště Jizery),[5] dedicated to star watching.

A museum in the quarter Neugablonz of the Bavarian town Kaufbeuren is devoted to the German history of the region.