Colombobalanus excelsa

Black oak forest remnants located in national parks and nature reserves are being protected. That is the case of those in Cueva de los Gúacharos and Farallones de Cali National Parks, and in the Flora and Fauna Sanctuary Guantentá-Río Fonce, in Santander. Several regional efforts are effectively protecting some black oak forest remnants; in Alto Bellavista, Huila, local coffee producing communities are protecting black oak forests remnants (Aguirre-Acosta and Botero, 2018) interested in ensuring the future of the watersheds and their biodiversity.

The main subpopulation in the Huila Department has now a better chance of being protected. The Huila regional environmental authority, Corporación Autónoma Regional del Alto Magdalena (CAM), is now coordinating the implementation of a conservation and management plan for black oak forests (Botero-Fernández et al. 2010) in that department. As part of that plan, the area of distribution of black oaks was given a special conservation status in 2018; Serranía de Peñas Blancas Integrated Management District, which covers the entire black oak forest subpopulations in the Department outside Cueva de los Guácharos National Park. In addition, under the conservation and management plan, research has been carried out on asexual reproduction and restoration plans for the species.

Although improvements have been made in the black oak conservation in Huila, deforestation is still a major threat. While producing the Forest Management Plan for that department (PGOF) in 2010, Fandiño and others estimated deforestation rates between 5.000 and 10.000 ha per year. This study, however, did not examine regional or forest type differences in those deforestation rates, but did emphasize the need for more careful monitoring of Black Oak areas.

The most northern subpopulations in the Antioquia and Bolivar provinces (Amalfi and San Lucas) have no protection and they have threats from habitat destruction and overexploitation. 

Some ex situ efforts have been initiated but with mixed results. The Bogota Botanical Garden has at least one individual, but there is no recent assessment to confirm its status. Other exercises of ex situ conservation were carried out in the campus of the National University of Colombia, Medellin, and in the municipality of Santo Domingo, in Huila, carried out by CAM, but they were not successful. Finally, there is a report on ex situ conservation experiences in the Cachalú Reserve in the department of Santander, led by Fundación Natura. In this ex situ experience, conservation strategies were developed within productive systems in the Corredor Guantiva - La Rusia - Iguaque, in the municipality of Arcabuco, department of Boyacá.

In Colombia, the Black Oak was officially included in the list of endangered plants in a decree by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development in 2014. That decree also instructs government institutions dealing with endangered biodiversity to develop and implement conservation plans for those species in the list.