Are conservation easements, or agreements to keep lands free of development, always in the best interest of the environment? Well according to a new study by the National Center for Public Policy Research, the answer may be “no.” Comments study author, Dana Joel Gattuso: “Changes in science and nature could deem perpetual easements useless or harmful. For example, thinning techniques are essential to protecting healthy forests and preventing forest fires. Yet conservation easements may not allow for necessary logging and thinning projects. In still another situation, an easement created to protect an endangered species could become useless if the species becomes plentiful or extinct. Such situations need to be considered.”