What we collect
When you browse the site: a self-hosted analytics script (Rybbit) records aggregated usage data. The exact field list is in the “Analytics” section below. No third-party service receives this data.
When you submit the contact form: your name, your reply-to email, the topic you picked, and the message you wrote. The Cloudflare Worker that handles the form sees your IP address and User-Agent header as part of normal HTTP request handling. Cloudflare Turnstile mints a browser-generated token confirming you are human; we forward that token to Cloudflare's verification endpoint and do not store it afterward.
That is the entire list. The data behind the editorial pages (NPS visit counts, NOAA climate normals, NPS-published images, NPS road windows) is all public-domain federal data (per 17 U.S.C. § 105) that we render. None of it is user-input data.
Analytics
This site uses Rybbit, an open-source web analytics tool. The script is loaded from rybbit.nmajor.net, a self-hosted instance operated by the site owner. No third party receives this data.
Fields recorded on each page view: page hostname, URL path, query string (if present), screen width and height, browser language (navigator.language), page title, and HTTP referrer. These are aggregated signals, no field uniquely identifies you.
Additional events recorded: outbound-link clicks to known authoritative sources we cite; successful newsletter signups; contact-form submit attempts and the selected topic; and views and use of the Share, Cite, and Prefer on Google controls. Page-action events record the control mode, action, destination, or citation format, but never copied text, page contents, contact messages, names, or email addresses.
IP address: your IP reaches the server as part of the HTTP request. Rybbit derives a coarse location (country, region, city) from it. Because this is a self-hosted instance, any retention policy is set by the operator, not a third party.
Cookies: Rybbit is cookieless by design (Rybbit's marketing describes it as “Cookieless. No cookies, no cross-site tracking, no personal data collection”). It does not write to document.cookie.
Opt out in one click:
The button writes disable-rybbit=1 to your browser's localStorage for this domain. Clearing site data resets the choice. We also automatically skip loading the analytics script when your browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal: you don't have to take any action in that case.
Where the contact-form data goes
The form posts to a Cloudflare Worker, which submits the message to a self-hosted Chatwoot instance at chatwoot.nmajor.net. Chatwoot stores the conversation. A real person reads every message.
No third party sees your message. We do not share, sell, or distribute contact-form submissions. The Cloudflare Worker is the only intermediate processor; it does not write the submission anywhere other than Chatwoot.
Why this analytics setup
Knowing which pages people actually read and which sources they click through to helps us prioritize new park pages and editorial updates. A self-hosted, cookieless tool lets us collect that signal without routing your data through a third-party advertising platform, without setting cookies, and without needing a consent banner. The data stays on infrastructure we control.
Neither we nor our analytics script set any cookies.
The Rybbit analytics script is cookieless by design. Cloudflare may set a __cf_bm cookie at the network layer for bot management; that's set by Cloudflare's edge independently of this site's code, not by us. Removing it doesn't affect site function.
Gallery photo review
Staff may use AI to help review a submitted photo. A resized image and its selected subject label are sent through OpenRouter to Cloudflare or DeepInfra. We remove embedded camera metadata and do not include your account details, caption, or exact coordinates in this review request. The visible image may still contain identifying details.
We use Brave Search to find public reference photos using the feature and park names. Your uploaded image is not sent to Brave. AI results are advisory; staff decide whether to publish. Review records remain private and are removed when the photograph is deleted.
When your photos are published, we group publication updates into a transactional email. Private delivery records are retained for up to 180 days to prevent duplicate notices.
Gallery photo-use reports
You can optionally share a public page link where a gallery photo appears. We store the link, the photo it refers to, and our review status. Reports are private and are checked by staff before a confirmed use is shown to the photographer.
The report form uses Cloudflare Turnstile and rate limiting to prevent spam. We do not ask for your name, email address, or intended use before a download. Reported links are not automatically fetched.
An optional reverse-image pilot may send approved public gallery images to Google Cloud Vision to find matching public pages. Candidate matches are reviewed before they are treated as confirmed uses. Pending and dismissed records are retained for up to 12 months; verified records are retained with the photograph.
Contributors can opt in to email notices for verified uses and turn them off in account settings. These notices do not subscribe anyone to marketing email. To request removal of a report, contact contact@nationalsitesguide.com.
Your rights
If you have submitted a contact-form message and want it deleted, use the contact form to request deletion and we will remove it from Chatwoot.
If you are in the EU or UK, GDPR rights apply; the same path handles access, correction, erasure, and portability requests. If you are in California, CCPA rights apply, same path. We do not sell personal information; there is nothing to opt out of beyond deletion of a submitted message.
Contact
For privacy questions, use /contact/.
This site is operated by NMajor Studios: Wyoming, USA. The operator is identified on /about/.