Latest news with #landmanagement
Globe and Mail
17-07-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Planet Expands Multi-Year Contract with Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi (IGAC), Providing Satellite Data and AI-Powered Analytics Feeds Across Colombia
Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), a leading provider of daily data and insights about change on Earth, today announced a multi-year contract expansion with the Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi (IGAC), in partnership with Planet geospatial intelligence partner Procalculo. With this contract, IGAC will continue leveraging Planet's technology for national land management, now incorporating the Planet Insights Platform and the AI-powered change detection service for roads and buildings. These tools will enhance analysis and decision-making in urban planning, infrastructure, and environmental management. IGAC is the governmental entity in Colombia responsible for generating, managing, and disseminating geographic and cartographic data. In 2023, Planet signed a contract with IGAC to provide advanced access to SkySat tasking and daily monitoring with PlanetScope, thereby strengthening land-use planning and risk management throughout the country. With the expansion of the contract, IGAC leverages a comprehensive ecosystem of Planet solutions, including the Planet Insights Platform for geospatial data analysis and management, SkySat Flexible Tasking, PlanetScope Monitoring, Planet Change Detection: Roads and Buildings, and the Education & Research package, aimed at supporting government-led research initiatives. "By working in collaboration with IGAC and our partner Procalculo, we're excited to see how Planet's data is being used for nationwide disaster response, monitoring public policy compliance, and detecting changes through artificial intelligence across Colombia," said Ashley Johnson, Planet President and CFO. "By leveraging our platform and AI-powered analytics, IGAC will continue advancing near-daily broad area land management at scale." With this expanded data access and collaboration with Procalculo, IGAC is strengthening its ability to enforce regulations, identify and monitor risks such as floods and landslides, and carry out land management efforts throughout Colombia. By integrating Planet's data into its government platform, the Observatorio de la Tierra y el Territorio (OTT), IGAC is able to efficiently support various organizations aiming to conduct AI-enabled change analysis, monitor infrastructure, support urban planning, and evaluate land-use over time—becoming a key input for informed decision-making. "Planet offers a unique combination of satellite data and analytical capabilities that we can integrate into our national management systems to provide decision-makers with up-to-date data and information that ensure reliable insights about the territory," said Anderson Puentes Carvajal, Director of the Dirección de Gestión de Información Geográfica at IGAC. "By leveraging Procalculo's expertise along with Planet's advanced data and analytical tools, we're making significant progress in change detection and the implementation of public policies at both national and local levels across the country." About Planet Planet is a leading provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions. Planet is driven by a mission to image the world every day, and make change visible, accessible and actionable. Founded in 2010 by three NASA scientists, Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest Earth observation fleet of imaging satellites. Planet provides mission-critical data, advanced insights, and software solutions to customers comprising the world's leading agriculture, forestry, intelligence, education and finance companies and government agencies, enabling users to simply and effectively derive unique value from satellite imagery. Planet is a public benefit corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange as PL. To learn more visit and follow us on X (formerly Twitter) or tune in to HBO's ' Wild Wild Space '. About Procalculo Procalculo, a multilatina company with over 50 years of experience in specialized geographic information, offers a robust portfolio that includes satellite imagery distribution, GIS software, and geospatial analysis services. Throughout its history, the company has worked closely with government agencies and private sector organizations on projects involving cartography, environmental monitoring, territorial planning, and risk management. Procalculo currently serves as the official distributor of Planet solutions in Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama, providing end-to-end support for implementation and technical assistance. Forward-looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, but not limited to, statements regarding Planet's product development and performance and its future execution and performance under contracts. Planet's expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not materialize, and actual results in future periods are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in Planet's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Planet does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events, except as required by applicable law.
Al Arabiya
17-07-2025
- Climate
- Al Arabiya
Grand Canyon blaze shows how managing a fire can go suddenly sideways
US land managers are racing against time as hotter, drier weather increases wildfire risk in overgrown forests. They're using flames from lightning-sparked wildfires when possible, and planning controlled burns to clear vegetation and limit future dangers. Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona has been a leader in using fire to enhance ecosystem resilience. A fire started by lightning on July 4 along the North Rim presented such an opportunity. However, after a week, conditions worsened, and wind-driven flames damaged the Grand Canyon Lodge and historic cabins. Despite this setback, experts argue that fire remains a crucial land management tool. Scott Stephens, a fire science professor at the University of California Berkeley, noted that most fires do great work. He emphasized that unless forests are made more resilient and fire hazards are lowered, the cycle of chasing fires will continue. Following the Dragon Bravo Fire on the North Rim, managers reported that crews had established containment lines, but unexpectedly strong winds pushed flames past these lines, leading to evacuations. Similarly, in New Mexico, crews battling a blaze in the Santa Fe National Forest had to change their strategy after a spot fire crossed containment lines. Ranchers criticized officials for not extinguishing the flames sooner, sharing images of dead cattle. Experts agree that there's room for improvement in wildfire management and controlled burn planning, especially with advancing technology. Derek Mallia, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Utah, is developing new forecasting tools and tracking fires in Utah and Arizona for a project focusing on pyrocumulonimbus clouds. He noted that fire forecasting hasn't progressed as much as tools for events like tornados and hurricanes, partly because fires occur on a smaller scale. Managers also need to consider built-up fuels and climate change, which is causing fires to burn hotter at night. Researchers are also working to understand how fires affect weather patterns. Mallia explained that fires are part of a complex feedback loop that complicates forecasting. However, Stephens and Andi Thode, a fire ecology professor at Northern Arizona University, emphasized that the biggest problem is the condition of the forests. Thode described the decision to use lightning-sparked fires or planned burns as a matter of deferred risk, asking whether managers want to take the risk now or later. For Native Americans, fire has long been essential for forest health. This perspective shifted policymaker attitudes, leading to the establishment of the first wilderness fire management program in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks over a half-century ago. Other parks followed suit, allowing thousands of lightning-sparked fires to burn under monitored conditions across the US. However, there have been costly lessons, such as the Cerro Grande Fire at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico in 2000, which destroyed homes and forced the closure of Los Alamos National Laboratory due to strong winds and insufficient resources. The circumstances are now more dire due to a drier landscape across much of the US West. In 2022, the US Forest Service proceeded with prescribed burns in New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which resulted in the largest blaze in New Mexico's recorded history. The Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire wasn't contained for four months, leading to evacuations and billions in recovery dollars. A 2024 report by the US Government Accountability Office noted that out of 50,000 prescribed fire projects between 2012 and 2021, 43 had escaped. The Forest Service ignites about 4,500 prescribed fires annually, with most being successful, but support decreases when fires escape. Thode stated that fire managers consider many variables when making decisions, emphasizing the extensive science behind managing these ecosystems.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mike Lee pulls public lands sale from Trump tax bill
Utah Sen. Mike Lee said late Saturday he was pulling a provision to sell public lands from the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' because of changes required to the language by the Senate parliamentarian. In a social media post on Saturday, Lee said after listening 'to members of the community, local leaders, and stakeholders across the country,' he decided to 'withdraw the federal land sales provision from the bill.' Lee said because of the constraints of the budget reconciliation process, he couldn't guarantee the land would be sold 'only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests." Lee sounded frustrated about the campaign against the public lands provision, saying there had been 'a tremendous amount of misinformation — and in some cases, outright lies — about my bill," but said other people brought forward 'sincere concerns.' Lee said he 'continues to believe the federal government owns too much land' and that he would continue to work with the Trump administration to 'put underutilized federal land to work for American families.' The Senate parliamentarian ruled earlier this week that the Utah senator's proposal to sell between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres of federally owned land would be stripped from President Donald Trump's massive tax package because it did not comply with the strict rules laid out in the reconciliation process. Lee's team then submitted new language that was approved by the parliamentarian. But then late Saturday he decided to strip the provision from the bill entirely. The biggest change he had made was the removal of U.S. Forest Service lands from being eligible for sale, significantly reducing how much land could be sold under his proposal. The original proposal would have required 11 Western states to sell anywhere between 0.5% and 0.75% of all Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands in the next five years. The legislation specifically applied to Utah as well as Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. Lee began adjusting his proposal over the weekend based on feedback from the public, his office told the Deseret News, and was nearly finalized before the parliamentarian issued the ruling. Lee's proposal also received pushback from some of his Republican colleagues, particularly those who have long opposed selling public lands for private use. On Saturday, Montana Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy said he would oppose the vote to move forward with the tax bill because of the public lands provision, but then later changed his mind after Senate GOP leaders gave him the go-ahead to introduce an amendment to strip the public lands language from the bill. 'I oppose the sale of public lands and will vote no on the motion to proceed if it is included,' Sheehy said in a social media post midday Saturday. Moments later, he wrote: 'I have just concluded productive discussions with leadership. I will be leading an amendment to strip the sale of public lands from this bill. I will vote yes on the motion to proceed. We must quickly pass the Big Beautiful Bill to advance President Trump's agenda.'
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Breaking: Mike Lee's Public Land Sale Plan Is Dead
Facing overwhelming opposition from all Democrats and a growing number in his own party, Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee tonight withdrew his proposal to sell millions of acres of public land to help balance the federal budget. In a statement issued by his office, Lee said that because of the 'strict constraints of the budget reconciliation process, I was unable to secure clear, enforceable safeguards to guarantee that these lands would be sold only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests. For that reason I've made the decision to withdraw the federal land sales provision from the bill.' Lee's language, a central part of the omnibus federal budget bill, would have put more than a million acres of BLM land on the auction block starting later this year. Senate leaders, hurriedly working to get the budget to a floor vote this weekend, gave Lee the opportunity to pull his provision, pages 202 to 211 of the thousand-page Big Beautiful Bill, knowing that it would have faced certain defeat by the Republican-majority Senate. That language would have forced the sale of BLM land in 11 Western states to offset tax cuts and royalty rebates to gas and oil drillers. The language in those pages, sponsored and revised over the last two weeks by Lee, would have created the largest disposal of public land since the Homestead Act. Tens of thousands of hunters, anglers, hikers, and public-land recreationists have pummeled the offices of their congressional delegations with increasingly strident demands to kill Lee's bill. That continued pressure from a broad and vocal coalition of rural hunters, suburban hikers, livestock producers, Main Street business owners, anglers, dirtbag climbers, and whitewater rafters made the difference, says Montanan Randy Newberg, host of Fresh Tracks and a vocal public-land advocate. 'Mike Lee did something that we've not been able to do, to have all Americans become focused on one issue, no partisanship, no Rs, no Ds, and in the process I hope they have sent a message that public lands are that third rail of American politics,' says Newberg, one of several social-media personalities who rallied his audience around defending public lands. 'I think you could also say the same of the Senate, they put partisanship aside to kill this bad idea.' Newberg singled out the work of New Mexico Democrat Martin Heinrich for his ability to keep all Democrats aligned on killing Lee's bill, and working across the aisle to convince fellow Western Republicans that it was bad for their constituents. While calls for the removal of the land-sale language from the mega bill was nearly unanimous, Lee kept digging in, making revisions that increased the amount of land that could be sold and adding vague language that seemed to stray from what he said was his intention: to allow Western municipalities to buy surrounding federal land in order to grow and build affordable housing for their residents. But in the most recent iteration, released by Lee's office last night in order to satisfy the Senate's budgetary rules, the highest priority for would-be disposed BLM lands was their appraised value. That highly valued land would likely have been bought by amenity purchasers, not cash-strapped Western cities. By adding lands with unallocated subsurface mineral rights to the total, the latest draft of the bill alarmed conservationists —— as much as 3 million acres of BLM land might have been available for sale to private industries, speculators, and even foreign governments. The Senate's budget reconciliation process allows the omnibus budget package to pass by a simple majority. Republicans have only a 3-seat majority in both the Senate and House, but four Western Republicans had indicated they wouldn't support the budget bill if it contained Lee's land sales provision. Sources report that the roster of Republicans quietly in opposition to the measure was large and growing, causing the Senate leadership to strike Lee's language in order to move the rest of the Big Beautiful Bill, which among other things could make tax cuts permanent for the wealthiest Americans and also includes cuts to Medicaid, public-lands management agencies, and federal reimbursements to rural hospitals. The Senate's death blow to Lee's bill removes pressure on the House of Representatives to kill the language. The House had been considered the 'backwall' in efforts to make sure the land-sale provision didn't advance to President Trump, who had indicated strong support for the proposal.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Plan to sell off public land in the West nixed from 'big, beautiful bill' amid GOP backlash
A controversial plan to sell hundreds of thousands of acres of public land across Western states — including California — was axed from the Republican tax and spending bill amid bipartisan backlash, prompting celebration from conservationists. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who spearheaded the proposal, announced he was pulling the provision on Saturday night on the social media platform X. Lee had said the land sale was intended to ease the financial burden of housing, pointing to a lack of affordability afflicting families in many communities. "Because of the strict constraints of the budget reconciliation process, I was unable to secure clear, enforceable safeguards to guarantee that these lands would be sold only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock and not to any foreign interests," he wrote in the post. For that reason, he said, he was withdrawing the measure from the "One Big Beautiful Bill" that Trump has said he wants passed by July 4. Lee's failed measure would have mandated the sale of between roughly 600,000 and 1.2 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in 11 Western states, including California. The areas available for auction were supposed to be located within a five-mile radius of population centers. The effort represented a scaled-back version of a plan that was nixed from the reconciliation bill on Monday for violating Senate rules. The initial plan would have allowed for the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of land managed by BLM and the U.S. Forest Service. Read more: A Republican plan to sell off millions of acres of public lands is no more — for now Lee's decision to scrap the proposal arrived after at least four Republican senators from Western states vowed to vote for an amendment to strike the proposal from the bill. At lease five House Republicans also voiced their opposition to the plan, including Reps. David Valadao of California and Ryan Zinke of Montana, who served as the Interior secretary during Trump's first term. The death of the provision was celebrated by conservationists as well as recreation advocates, including hunters and anglers, even as they steeled themselves for an ongoing fight over federal lands. The Trump administration has taken steps to open public lands for energy and resource extraction, including recently announcing it would rescind a rule that protects 58.5 million acres of national forestland from road construction and timber harvesting. Some critics saw the now-scrapped proposed land sale as means to offset tax cuts in the reconciliation bill. "This is a victory for everyone who hikes, hunts, explores and cherishes these places, but it's not the end of the threats to our public lands," said Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, in a statement. "Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have made it clear they will use every tool at their disposal to give away our public lands to billionaires and corporate polluters." Chris Wood, president and chief executive of Trout Unlimited — a nonprofit dedicated to conserving rivers and streams to support trout and salmon — described protecting public lands as "the most nonpartisan issue in the country." 'This is certainly not the first attempt to privatize or transfer our public lands, and it won't be the last," Wood said in a statement. "We must stay vigilant and defend the places we love to fish, hike, hunt and explore.' Lee, in the Saturday X post, suggested the issue remained in play. He said he believed the federal government owns too much land — and that it is mismanaging it. Locked-away land in his state of Utah, he claimed, drives up taxes and limits the ability to build homes. "President Trump promised to put underutilized federal land to work for American families, and I look forward to helping him achieve that in a way that respects the legacy of our public lands and reflects the values of the people who use them most." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
