Protecting the Public Interest and Investments in Conservation: A Response to Professor Korngold's Critique of Conservation Easements

McLaughlin and Machlis offer a rebuttal to Gerald Korngold’s article “Solving the Contentious Issues of Private Conservation Easements: Promoting Flexibility for the Future and Engaging the Public Land Use Process”, which presents a critique of conservation easements and a variety of suggestions for reform. They discuss five misconceptions that tend to pervade the criticism of conservation easements and result in proposals for reform that would be contrary to the public interest. They also discuss three of the primary reforms suggested in Korngold’s article and why they feel those reforms are both unnecessary and inadvisable.