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ChasingFalls

Editorial Policy

Last updated: June 2026

This page explains who is behind ChasingFalls, how our pages are produced, and the standards every page on chasingfalls.org is held to. We publish it so readers, journalists, and search engines can judge our work by a clear, stated process rather than guesswork.

Who runs ChasingFalls

ChasingFalls is an independent publication built and maintained by the ChasingFalls Editorial Team. We are not funded, owned, or directed by any of the agencies, companies, or organizations that appear in our data. We do not accept paid placements, sponsored rankings, or fees to add, alter, or remove an entry. Our editorial judgment is not for sale. The editors and desks accountable for our coverage are listed on our editorial team page.

How our content is produced

ChasingFalls covers U.S. waterfalls: locations, heights, access, and seasonal flow. Our pages are assembled programmatically from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and federal land-management records: we fetch the primary records, process them with documented, repeatable methods, and render them as pages a non-specialist can read. We start from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) register of named “Falls” features — official name, state, county, and coordinates — and pair each waterfall with documented height, watercourse, managing agency, trail access, and a seasonal peak-flow window drawn from USGS streamflow records and land-manager pages. Each entry links back to its sources.

We are transparent that this is a data-publishing operation, not a wire service of on-the-ground reporters. Where we add narrative, that narrative describes and interprets the underlying public data — it never invents facts the data does not contain. Automated assembly is reviewed against the source, and the methodology behind any score or ranking is documented and linkable.

ChasingFalls is produced by an AI-augmented editorial team. Research and first drafts are AI-assisted, but every waterfall’s facts are compiled from public records (USGS GNIS, NPS, USFS, and state-park sources) and reviewed against those sources before publication. We describe places from documented facts and cited sources rather than claiming personal visits.

Editorial standards

  • Primary source only. Every figure traces back to the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and federal land-management records, cited and linkable on the page where it appears.
  • No invented numbers. If a value is not in the underlying public data, it does not appear on chasingfalls.org. We never generate synthetic statistics to fill gaps.
  • Documented methodology. Rankings, grades, and composite scores are editorial calculations derived from public data using stated, repeatable formulas — not certifications or endorsements.
  • Dated and refreshed. Reviewed and expanded on a rolling basis as we verify additional waterfalls against GNIS and land-manager records; GNIS itself updates continuously.
  • Corrections welcome. When a reader or the source identifies an error, we fix it — see our Corrections Policy.

Verification and fact-checking

Because our numbers come straight from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and federal land-management records, our verification work is about faithful processing rather than re-reporting. The detail of how we check figures before publication is described in our Fact-Checking Policy.

Ownership and funding transparency

ChasingFalls is part of a small portfolio of independent public-data sites. The site is free to read and is supported by display advertising served by third parties, which is kept separate from our editorial and data decisions. We do not sell personal data. Where an outbound link is an affiliate link, it is disclosed and never changes our editorial judgment.

Contact

Questions about how a page was produced, or about these standards? hello@chasingfalls.org. See also our About page and our Corrections Policy.