ForestMatters (“we,” “our,” or “us”) operates forestmatters.com. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights with respect to that information.
Information We Collect
We run our own privacy-light, first-party analytics to collect anonymized usage data. It only runs after you accept analytics in the cookie banner, and it includes:
- The pages you visit and the link or search that referred you
- General location (country, region, and city), derived from your network, not precise GPS
- Browser, device type, and operating system
- Campaign tags (UTM) on the link you arrived through
- Clicks on links that leave our site
- Which tools you open and how far you get in them
- Page performance timings and technical error messages (with any emails, tokens, or query strings removed) so we can fix bugs
- A random id stored in your browser to recognize repeat visits, so we can tell new visitors from returning ones; it is never linked to your identity
We do not collect: your name, street address, phone number, or any financial data entered into our calculators.
Financial inputs entered into our calculators are processed entirely in your browser. They are never transmitted to our servers, never stored, and never shared. We have no access to the numbers you run through our tools. Every calculator on the site works this way; nothing you type into one reaches us.
The Tree Price Check (closed)
This site used to run a tree price check that accepted quotes people had been given, so the amounts could be compared. It closed on September 3, 2026. The form, the endpoint behind it and the bot check that guarded it have been removed, so there is no longer any way to submit a quote, and nothing about a tree job is collected, stored, or published anywhere on this site.
If you submitted one before it closed: what was recorded was the first five digits of your ZIP code (never a street address), the job details you selected, the region they mapped to, any line items you typed in, the amount and its date, and a one-way hash of your IP address used only to limit abuse. Your raw IP address was never stored. A company name, if you gave one, was stored privately and was never shown to anyone. None of it is published now.
A third party was involved, until it closed: until the check closed, the form was guarded by a bot check run by Cloudflare. Loading it meant your IP address was sent to Cloudflare and handled under Cloudflare’s privacy policy; we did not store it. That bot check was removed on September 3, 2026, and nothing on this site reaches Cloudflare now.
Deletion: a quote submitted before the price check closed may still be held in our database. Email us the ZIP prefix, the amount and the approximate date and we will find the row and delete it by hand, normally within 30 days. There is no automated deletion tool. A submitted quote was never tied to an account, so we may need to ask you to confirm which row is yours before we remove it.
How Our Analytics Works
Our own analytics is first-party and privacy-light: it runs only after you accept analytics in the cookie banner, and declining turns our analytics off. Separately, and not covered by that banner, our host Vercel measures aggregate page traffic and page speed on every visit as part of hosting the site. That measurement is cookieless and is not tied to you.
Once a day we roll the analytics records up into daily totals (visits, tools opened, and the like) so the site can be improved without reading individual rows.
We never store your raw IP address. It is converted to a one-way hash used only to limit abuse of these endpoints and to slow down repeated admin login attempts, and it is not stored on any analytics record. This data is never sold and is used only to improve the site.
How We Use This Information
Analytics data is used to understand how visitors use the site: which tools are most used, where people come from, and how we can improve the experience. We do not sell, share, or monetize this data beyond what is described in this policy.
Cookies
We do not use third-party analytics cookies, advertising cookies, or tracking pixels for retargeting. Our own first-party analytics does not use cookies; it stores a random id in your browser’s local storage to recognize repeat visits, and it runs only after you accept. You can turn it off at any time by declining in the cookie banner or by clearing your browser’s site data.
Third Parties
We use the following third-party services:
Vercel
Hosts the site and provides privacy-friendly, cookieless aggregate traffic measurement. Data is subject to Vercel’s Privacy Policy.
Supabase
Hosts the database that holds our first-party analytics records, together with any tree quotes that were submitted before the price check closed and have not since been deleted. Data is subject to Supabase’s Privacy Policy.
Upstash (key-value store)
Holds short-lived rate-limit counters, keyed by the one-way hash of an IP address described above. Entries expire within minutes and hold no other data about you.
Affiliate Networks
None today. If we ever add an affiliate or referral link, this card will name the network before the link goes live, and clicking it would then subject you to that network’s own privacy policy rather than this one. See our Affiliate Disclosure for more information.
Children’s Privacy
This site is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Your Rights (CCPA & GDPR)
Depending on your location, you may have additional rights regarding your personal data:
California residents (CCPA): You have the right to know what personal information is collected about you, request deletion of your data, and opt out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information today. If we ever add a button that hands your request to a partner, we will say so at the button, describe exactly what is sent, and update this policy before it goes live.
EU/EEA residents (GDPR): You have the right to access, correct, delete, or restrict processing of your personal data, and the right to data portability. Our analytics is off until you accept it, and we store no calculator inputs, so most requests can be addressed by declining analytics in the cookie banner. If you submitted a tree quote before the price check closed, contact us and we will locate and delete any row that matches, by hand, normally within 30 days.
To exercise any of these rights, use the contact information on this page.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Material changes will be noted prominently. Continued use of the site after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
Contact
Email hello@forestmatters.com. To have a tree quote you submitted before the price check closed deleted, include the ZIP prefix, the amount and the approximate date so we can find the row.