Oak (Quercus) trees and forests have provided a myriad of wood resources and ecosystem services for millennia. Oaks are considered a keystone species in many regions of the world but are increasingly threatened by deforestation, nonnative invasive pests and pathogens, climate change, altered disturbance regimes, and gaps in critical knowledge for silviculture and management. Despite commonalities of these threats across many oak ecosystems around the globe, general applications of solutions are often elusive and difficult to develop. Rural and urban communities will continue to lose vital ecosystem services and values provided by oak trees and forests without further development and application of practical science-based silviculture and management at stand and landscape levels. 

Substantial progress has been made in research and science delivery for oak ecology, silviculture, and management since the mid-20th century. International meetings have been hosted and sponsored in part by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Research Groups or Working Parties, particularly Unit 1.01.06, Ecology and Silviculture of Oaks: In 2000, the “IUFRO International conference ‘Oak 2000 – improvement of wood quality and genetic diversity of oaks‘” was held in Zagreb, Croatia.Several regional symposia have been held in the Central Hardwood Region of eastern North America to synthesize the state of the knowledge and provide opportunities for exchanges among researchers and practitioners: A 1992 symposium, “Oak Regeneration: Serious Problems, Practical Recommendations” was held in Knoxville, Tennessee; In 2002, “Upland Oak Ecology Symposium: History, Current Conditions, and Sustainability” was held in Fayetteville, Arkansas; “Oak symposium: sustaining oak forests in the 21st century through science-based management” was held in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2017. A series of western regional meetings have been held as part of the California Oak Symposium, from 1979 to 2022 focusing primarily on oak conservation in northern and southern California.