On current molecular evidence, there is is not a species complex. There is one 1934 collection named as this listed on MyCoPortal from USA, Washington, Spokane. However, there is no molecular evidence in Lodge et al. (2014) that Hygrocybe intermedia occurs in North America and so this record has not been included in this concept.

Hygrocybe intermedia belongs to the European waxcap assemblage whose members are globally under threat due to the declining area/quality of their grassland habitat. They are rapidly disappearing across Europe due to changes in land use (agricultural intensification and decline of traditional farming practices) and increasing use of fertilisers and pesticides. Declines in area and quality of available habitat have exceeded 30% over the last 50 years (three generations); the decline in population size over this time could be higher. This decline in habitat is expected to continue over the next 50 years. Therefore, this species meets the thresholds for listing as Vulnerable under criteria A2ce+3ce+4ce.

Although there is no ex-type sequence yet available, the species is relatively morphologically distinct and there is no known evidence of cryptic taxa within the established species concept. Regarded as "widespread, but rare" in Europe (Boertmann, 2010), this species is likely to be one of the genuinely rarer waxcaps in Europe. It is not currently considered to be present in North America due to the lack of DNA evidence to support such a claim. The eastern boundary of the range is, as is the case for all members of the waxcap grassland assemblage, unclear because of the lack of data.

The population size probably exceeds 20,000 mature individuals but exact figures are unknown. GBIF (2024) lists more than 2,500 records. The population is decreasing in all known countries of occurrence, caused by a cessation of small scale farming and traditional methods of grassland management, and use of fertilisers and pesticides. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the area of grasslands in the EU declined by 12.8% over 13 years (1990-2003); only a few Member States managed to avoid this trend (Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations 2006). Based on this, the habitat decline is inferred to be 30% over 30 years (past, future and ongoing) but may actually be as high as 50% over three generations (50 years; Dahlberg and Mueller 2011) and even higher over longer time-frames. It is suspected that the population will be declining at a similar rate or potentially even higher.

Hygrocybe intermedia is an indicator of mycologically rich but nutrient-poor, semi-natural grassland (a member of the waxcap grassland assemblage). This habitat, which may be of low conservation concern for its plant and animal diversity, is rapidly disappearing worldwide due to changes in land use (intensification of farming practice, eutrophication and increased use of fertilisers and pesticides). Waxcaps are currently regarded as forming a biotrophic relationship with plants but the details remain unclear. Fruiting populations of waxcaps are nitrogen sensitive and dependent on a regime of grazing or mowing without applications of fertiliser or pesticide. The waxcap grassland assemblage is characterised by a large diversity of other fungal genera (including Entoloma, clavarioid taxa and geoglossoid taxa) that have similar nutrient and management requirements. Addition of fertilisers or cessation of grazing/mowing management is rapidly detrimental to fruiting community diversity. H. intermedia was shown to have a relatively high dependence on semi-natural grassland habitats in Norway with only ca. 5% of the surveyed national population occurring in rich/calcareous forests (Jordal et al. 2016).

As a species dependent on semi-natural grasslands, Hygrocybe intermedia is threatened by habitat loss and degradation due to a decrease in small scale, low intensity farming. The main reasons for declines involve land that is no longer farmed or, if still in the farming system, is subjected to ploughing, reseeding, fertiliser application (mainly of phosphorus and nitrogen), pesticides, reduced grazing intensity and eutrophication. According to NATURA 2000 reports (Calaciura and Spinelli 2008), grassland habitats are steadily decreasing, mainly due to abandonment or change in land use. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the area of grasslands in the EU declined by 12.8% from 1990 to 2003; only a few Member States managed to avoid this trend (Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations 2006).

Pressure caused by land use changes on grassland habitats is steadily increasing. Some 60% of newly afforested areas in the EU formerly were used as permanent/seasonal grazing land or hay-production in natural meadows. More than 75% of the grassland habitats in the EU are in an unfavourable conservation status, according to draft data provided by Member States under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive.

According to the European Environment Agency (2015), natural and semi-natural grasslands have undergone a major decline in recent decades. Grasslands have one of the lowest proportions (11%) of favourable condition assessments and one of the highest proportions of decreasing assessments of all the terrestrial ecosystems considered. About 49 % of EU assessments for the 45 grassland habitat types of Community interest are "unfavourable-bad". Grassland butterflies, for example, are declining severely and there is no sign of level-ling off (European Environment Agency 2024). Accordingly, Janssen et al. (2016) reported that 53 % of the grassland habitats in Europe are threatened to some degree (the second most threatened habitat type after “mires and bogs”).

No use or trade is known.

It is nationally Red Listed as being of conservation concern in multiple countries; as Critically Endangered in Estonia, Endangered in Denmark and Finland, Vulnerable in Austria, Croatia, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden and Near Threatened in Switzerland (Senn-Irlet et al. 2007, Arnolds and Veeerkamp 2008, Dämon and Krisai-Greilhuber 2016, Hyvärinen et al. 2019, Saar et al. 2019, SLU Artdatabanken 2020, Artsdatabanken 2021, Moselund et al. 2023). 

Site protection and management of habitats are both very important conservation actions for this species. Grazing, at least before the onset of the fruiting season, is of fundamental importance. On sites where cattle would cause soil erosion (e.g. sloping ground, thin soils), sheep are the preferred grazing animal. Mowing, with collection of ‘arisings’, can substitute for grazing. Further ecological research needed to clarify resource relations of waxcaps.