Tillandsia chaetophylla

Although pine-oak forests and montane forests of the Sierra Madre del Sur and Oaxaca are reasonably well preserved due to their rugged topography and inaccessibility, agriculture and cattle farming are threatening these areas. Lower montane forest is being cleared for agricultural use such as growing corn, beans and citrus fruits and cloud forests are also being cleared for coffee plantations. Oak and fir forests are being removed for lumber (WWF 2001) and urban development is threatening the more accessible areas. The flora in the area is also threatened by collection of plants with ornamental value and resin extraction. Being an important ornamental, this species may be collected in the wild, however harvesting levels are unknown. In markets throughout Oaxaca, but mostly in the capital, various T. chaetophylla species are sold. These appear to be collected on a massive scale especially during the time leading up to Christmas and New Year, without making a distinction between taxa (A. Espejo Serna pers. comm. 2008).

This species is known from two protected areas, namely the Canon de Rio Blanco National Park and the Tehuacan-Cuicatlan Biosphere Reserve. The species is cultivated in a number of botanical gardens, however there may be some confusion concerning the true identity of these plants due to the changes described by Lopez-Ferrari et al. (2006) — see distribution. No seed is known to be stored as an ex situ conservation measure. There is a community conservation project underway in San Felipe Lachillo, Oaxaca, focusing on forest management (Miranda et al. 2006).