Wildfire Modeling Firm Ends Federal Lobbying After Appropriations Win
Spatial Informatics Group LLC Parts Ways With Innovative Federal Strategies After a One-Year, $80,000 Engagement
Spatial Informatics Group LLC, a California-based geospatial and wildfire analytics firm, filed an LDA termination ending its lobbying relationship with Innovative Federal Strategies LLC on December 30, 2024. The lobbying disclosure termination caps a single calendar year of federal advocacy that cost $80,000 — $20,000 per quarter — focused on wildfire research funding and the use of public wildfire data in commercial platforms.
The federal lobbying client termination comes at a notable moment: the FY2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill that was the firm's primary lobbying target has been signed into law, and the Trump administration has independently moved to reshape wildfire data policy through executive action.
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Why It Matters
A Small Client, A Small Engagement
At $80,000 for the full year, Spatial Informatics Group LLC's lobbying spend was modest by Washington standards. The company — a private environmental consulting firm with an estimated $6.4 million to $23.5 million in annual revenue and roughly 51 to 200 employees — registered its LDA lobbying registration with Innovative Federal Strategies in late December 2024 and maintained the relationship for exactly four quarters.
Innovative Federal Strategies LLC, in its disclosure filings, deployed three lobbyists on the account across the year: Carl Innova Kime, Letitia Hoadley White, and Joseph M. Minges (who replaced Taylor R. Jordan after Q1).
Based on available data, Spatial Informatics Group LLC did not hire any other lobbying firms during the same period. Its entire 2025 federal lobbying footprint ran through Innovative Federal Strategies.
No Replacement Firm — Yet
There is no indication in lobbying disclosures that Spatial Informatics Group has retained a new firm to continue this work. The company's lobbying activity appears to have gone to zero following the termination.
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Broader Context
The Appropriations Bill Passed
The legislation at the center of this engagement — the FY2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 4754/S. 2431) — passed both chambers with overwhelming margins (397–28 in the House, 82–15 in the Senate) and was signed into law as part of a three-bill minibus (Public Law 119-74) in January 2026.
The enacted bill includes $1.148 billion for fire preparedness, suppression, science and research, emergency rehabilitation, and fuels management at the Department of the Interior, with $4 million specifically for the Joint Fire Science Program. Innovative Federal Strategies had been lobbying on Title III provisions related to fire research and modeling tools — the area that received dedicated funding in the final law.
In other words, the specific appropriations cycle that Spatial Informatics Group LLC's lobbying was designed to influence has concluded.
The Executive Branch Moved on Wildfire Data
The second track of the firm's advocacy — contacting congressional officials about the use of public wildfire data in commercial platforms, which began in Q3 2025 — has been overtaken by executive branch action.
In June 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14308, directing the Secretary of Defense to identify, declassify, and make publicly available historical satellite datasets to advance wildfire prevention, prediction, and modeling. In September 2025, the Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a formal Request for Information on a Technology Roadmap to Increase Wildfire Firefighting Capabilities, seeking input on data sharing, modeling, and AI integration.
This is directly relevant to Spatial Informatics Group's core business. The company is a key science partner behind First Street Foundation's Fire Factor product and a participant in the Pyregence Consortium. It holds federal contracts with NASA and USDA, totaling approximately $1.5 million in prime award obligations across 17 transactions.
No Congressional Mentions or Hearing Appearances
A search of congressional hearings from October 2024 through February 2026 turned up no mentions of Spatial Informatics Group LLC. No member communications referencing the company were found either. There is nothing in the public record suggesting any congressional scrutiny or controversy contributed to the end of this lobbying relationship.
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The Firm's Lobbyists and Their Hill Experience
The Innovative Federal Strategies LLC disclosure filings show three lobbyists worked the account:
- Letitia Hoadley White, the firm's founding partner, previously served on the House Appropriations Committee during the 106th and 107th Congresses and worked in the office of Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA). That Appropriations Committee experience was directly relevant to the client's focus on Interior-Environment spending bills.
- Joseph M. Minges, an associate, previously worked in the office of Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO).
- Carl Innova Kime, a partner, has prior government experience but no documented congressional staffer background.
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Bottom Line
The appropriations bill that Spatial Informatics Group LLC was lobbying on passed with broad bipartisan support and is now law. The executive branch, meanwhile, has taken independent steps on wildfire data policy that could reshape the landscape for companies like SIG — potentially making congressional lobbying on data access less urgent than direct engagement with agencies like USDA, the Department of Interior, and OSTP.
There is no public evidence that Spatial Informatics Group has hired a replacement firm. If the company does re-enter the federal lobbying space, the policy terrain has shifted: the action on wildfire technology and data is now centered in the executive branch, not on Capitol Hill. A firm with strong agency relationships — rather than purely congressional ones — could be a better fit for whatever comes next.
For now, though, this looks like a client that got what it came for and left.