> "Why would a private individual go through the legal risks of opening their land to the public? I highly doubt these lands will become public access in the fu

> "Why would a private individual go through the legal risks of opening their land to the public? I highly doubt these lands will become public access in the future as there's zero incentive for it, despite the joke you stated." Because they're community-minded, and doing that aligns with their values? Our small local land trust is currently in the final stages of two easements brought to us by private landowners who wanted to open their land to the public. One of them was I would say "community" oriented, in that their land had been informally open to the public, and they wanted to formalize that access, and use it to educate the public on the value of the ecosystems in place there. The other is I would say is also community minded, but coming more from a place of principle in that they believe more people opening their land to public use is the right thing to do, and what we should be doing as a society. It also helps that in our state, liability for public access is essentially zero, and we have very strong legal protections for landowners who open their land. > Is there some choice in there? Not much if you want land. Don't buy land that's encumbered by an easement? But it's gonna cost you more. IDK about your friend's specific situation, but one of the big benefits of agricultural easements is that they significantly reduce the value of the land, allowing (perhaps) people like your friend to afford to buy farm land who wouldn't otherwise be able to. In the area we operate, agricultural land has shot up from about $5K/acre, to $20K+/acre in less than a decade. At those prices, no family farmers can afford to buy farm land, and the only people who can farm are multi-generational farming families who bought land decades ago and haven't sold out yet, or large corporate farms. But that price increase is being driven by developers who want to build houses. Take away that ability, and suddenly new farmers just starting out can afford to buy some land to farm on. True, they don't have the freedom to turn around and sell that land to housing developers, but I think that hardly turns them into serfs.