Quercus havardii

Populations of Quercus harvardii are threatened mostly by habitat alteration for agriculture and development. Concerns include habitat loss due to roads and pipelines for oil and gas development industries (Davis 2013). This threat has resulted in extensive habitat alteration; these impacts include soil compaction; decreased stability of microclimates; loss of habitat; decreased habitat quality; division of the ecosystem with artificial gaps; abrupt habitat edges; and conversion of habitat interior to habitat edge. Once development destroys or fragments Q. havardii's habitat, its dune stabilization and habitat provided for species such as the Dune Sagebrush Lizard are subsequently reduced. Sias and Snell (1998) report that, although not quantified, oil and gas development has resulted in extensive habitat alteration. 

The most alarming threat centers around livestock use and agricultural conversion. Quercus havardii is poisonous to livestock during the spring and competes with grass and forbs for water and nutrients and, thus, often times is treated as an undesirable plant. Herbicides such as Tebuthiuron are used to eradicate the species. Tebuthiuron gradually kills the plant over a three to four year period. Peterson and Boyd (1998) report that 100,000 acres of Shinnery Oak had been targeted for treatment in New Mexico and about 320,000 acres in Texas. However, nearly all Shinnery in Oaklahoma and Texas exists on private lands. Records are not kept of private landowners who use Tebuthiuron and thus it is impossible to quantify the number of acres that are currently being treated. It is likely, however, that many thousands of acres continue to be treated or will be treated in the future. The areas that have been targeted for herbicide treatment, to promote an area suitable for grazing for the purposes of agriculture and livestock, have been included in the 15 year period of decline due to conversion: from 1983-1998, 30% of this species historic range in Texas was converted to cropland and grassland, with an additional 10% in both Oklahoma and New Mexico.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has documented treatment still occurring in New Mexico as recently as 2009. Recent initiatives like NRCS Technical Note 53, the New Mexico Conservation Agreements, and Texas Conservation Plan all restrict or limit the application of Tebuthiuron within Shinnery habitat. The Service concludes that Tebuthiuron treatment will not continue at a rate much less than its historical application. It is important to note that the majority of Shinnery habitat, especially that which occurs in Texas, exits on private lands and thus need not adhere to the provisions listed. This makes estimating future rates of decline more challenging.

This species exists in only six arboreta worldwide (BGCI 2016).

Davis (2013) found that current Quercus havardii habitat restoration techniques are not sufficient . These practices include simply removing oilfield infrastructure with the hope that the species will repopulate the area. He proposes the use of Shinnery Oak rhizomes as a propagation source in the reestablishment of the species within disturbed areas, and found some success within his trials. This is a technique that must be further researched, and could then be applied to areas of historic Q. havardii range that have been altered by ranchers and oilfields.

Although most of Shinnery Oak habitat is on private lands, there are some exceptions. In Oklahoma, 13,000 acres are present in Black Kettle National Grassland (USDA Forest Service) and 16,000 acres in Packsaddle Wildlife Management Area (Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation). Within New Mexico, the Bureau of Land Management lists 1,200,000 acres (1994), state trust lands include about 500,000 acres, and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (1984) manages 21,000 acres (Peterson and Boyd 1998).