Privacy
The short version: we don't track you, we don't sell anything about you, and we only keep what you choose to send us.
What we don't do
No ad trackers, no Facebook or Google scripts, no accounts, nothing that follows you to other sites. Our own scripts are a few lines: they swap in your town's weather and board meeting when you pick a town, and shrink a brag board picture before you send it. Pages with a form also run Cloudflare Turnstile, a spam check that makes sure a person is sending it, usually without you clicking anything. Cloudflare says it doesn't use Turnstile to track you or show ads; their policy is linked below. The forms need it turned on; everything else works without any script.
Counting visits
We count visits ourselves so we know what people use and can tell advertisers roughly how many folks stop by. Nobody else gets this. For each page you load we note the page, the site that sent you here (if any), your rough location as Cloudflare figures it from your connection (city, state, country, internet provider), whether you're on a phone or computer, your browser and system, your language setting, and the time.
To count visitors without knowing who they are, we mix your internet address and browser with a random code that changes every day and turn that into a scrambled number. We never store your internet address itself, and once the day's code is thrown out, the scrambled number can't be traced back to anybody. This doesn't use a cookie. We keep these counts about 13 months.
We do use Google Search Console, which tells us what people searched on Google before they clicked through to us. That comes from Google's side; nothing from it runs on these pages or knows who you are.
The one cookie
If you pick your town at the top of the page, we save one small cookie called town that says which town (like laona), so the front page can show your weather and your town board's next meeting. That's all it holds. It lasts a year so you don't have to pick again. If you never pick a town, there's no cookie. Clearing your cookies gets rid of it.
When you send us something
The contact, event and advertising forms send us what you typed: your name and email if you give them, and your message. We use your email only to answer you. We keep submissions for up to 90 days, then they're deleted automatically. Events we put up stay on the events page until they're over.
Ice reports keep what you typed (the lake, the ice, what's biting and the name you want shown); email is optional and never shown, and reports we don't put up get deleted.
To keep spam out, we keep a scrambled version of your internet address for one day so we can count how many messages came from the same place. It can't be turned back into your address, and it's gone the next day.
When you email hello@forestcountylocal.com or ads@forestcountylocal.com, we keep your message, your name and address as your mail program sends them, and our answer, so we can keep track of who we've written back. Attachments aren't kept. We use your address only to answer you, and we delete email after a year, sooner if you ask.
Who runs the servers
The site runs on Cloudflare. Like any web host, their servers see your internet address and browser when you load a page, and we can see basic request logs for about a week when something breaks. Cloudflare's own policy is at cloudflare.com/privacypolicy.
Where the info comes from
Trail, snow, weather and fire information comes from Forest County, NOAA, the National Weather Service, the Wisconsin DNR, Travel Wisconsin and the trail clubs. When you click a link to one of them, you're on their site and their rules.
Photos
Every picture gets looked at before it goes up, and we strip the location data phones tuck into photos. We'll never ask where you got it.
The brag board is open now. When you send in a picture we keep the photo with the location data taken out (in a few sizes for phones and computers; the original file you sent isn't kept), what you say it is, the name and town if you give them, and your email if you leave one. Your email is never shown; it's only so we can ask you a question, and we clear it once your picture goes up. If we don't put a picture up, we delete it and everything sent with it right away. Pictures on the board stay up until you ask us to take one down.
Kids
This site isn't meant for kids under 13, and we don't knowingly take anything from them.
Getting something taken down
Want something you sent removed sooner, or see something about you on here you don't like? Use the contact form or email hello@forestcountylocal.com and we'll take care of it.
If this changes, we'll update the date here. Last updated October 18, 2026.