Do working forest easements work for conservation?

Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements designed to achieve conservation goals on private land. Extensive public and private funding has been used to establish “working forest” conservation easements (WFCE) that aim to protect conservation values while maintaining commercial timber production. We use variation in the timing and location of easements to estimate the impacts of WFCEs in Maine from a 33-year time-series of forest loss and harvesting. Compared to matched controls, WFCEs reduced forest loss rates by just 0.0004% yr-1, the equivalent of 3ha yr-1, and increased the rate of harvesting by 0.37% yr-1, or 2935ha yr-1 within the 839,000 ha enrolled. More recent easements contained stricter restrictions on harvest practices and these easements reduced harvest by 0.62% yr-1. Overall, WFCEs supported continued harvests, but did not appear to provide substantial ecological benefits. Future easements could be more effective if they include additional provisions for harvest restrictions and monitoring. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.