Document 53-15
Filed 01/16/2008
Page 1 of 4
Shapiro, William (ENRD)
From: Sent: To: Cc: Julie Greathouse [[email protected]] Friday, January 11, 2008 2:46 PM Shapiro, William (ENRD); [email protected] [email protected]; Alan Perkins
Subject: RE: AGFC: Deposition Notice Bill: Neither Jim Goodhart nor I are available for depositions on the 23rd. I currently have a trial beginning in federal court on January 22, 2008 that is set for 2-3 days. We can both be available the following week starting on Monday, January 28, 2008. I do not know my experts' availability for the 23rd or the week of the 28th but will contact them regarding availability as soon as we have settled on a date. We would prefer to have the depositions taken at my office in Little Rock. I assume you will have no objection to that. We assume you will be taking full depositions of these witnesses and will object to additional depositions of these witnesses. Finally, Phillip Livingston is no longer with Kingwood Forestry and cannot, therefore, be made available pursuant to the Notice. Either Jim or I are available to discuss these issues by phone if further conversation would be useful. Please feel free to call. Julie
From: Shapiro, William (ENRD) [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 12:59 PM To: Julie Greathouse; [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: AGFC: Deposition Notice Julie Please find a Notice of Deposition attached. The original will follow by Federal Express. We would very much like to avoid taking this deposition now, but feel as if we have no other choice. If you are amenable to allowing our experts to talk to someone at Kingwood about these issues (as I suggested to you on December 28), I believe we could avoid having to take a deposition now. In any event, given the recent information that you have provided us, it may be necessary to extend the timeline for our reports (especially if we need to take a deposition). Please let me know how you would like to proceed. Bill
From: Shapiro, William (ENRD) Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:47 AM To: Julie Greathouse; [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: AGFC: Recent Information Julie - regarding my second question -- I understand that we could not go out and find the plastic flags on the ground now. What I am asking, though, is whether it is possible to locate the plot data on a map -- do you have, for example, the information Kingwood used to decide how many paces to walk or in what cardinal direction to move?
Exhibit 14 to United States' Motion
1/16/2008
Case 1:05-cv-00381-CFL
Document 53-15
Filed 01/16/2008
Page 2 of 4
From: Julie Greathouse [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:35 AM To: Shapiro, William (ENRD); [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: AGFC: Recent Information Bill: As to your first question, it is my understanding that there are no maps identifying the exact sample plots. Your second question was addressed in my email of 1/4/08. Any further inquiry regarding what is possible using the data should be addressed to your experts. Julie From: Shapiro, William (ENRD) [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 10:31 AM To: Julie Greathouse; [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: AGFC: Recent Information Yes, as is clear from my email below, I have a specific question. Am I correct that there are no maps showing where in the Compartment the Kingwood tree counts were made? Am I also correct that there is no way to now put together a map that would correlate the Kingwood cruise plot data with any map or specific map location?
From: Julie Greathouse [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:25 AM To: Shapiro, William (ENRD); [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: AGFC: Recent Information -- PROPOSED RESPONSE Bill: If you have a specific question or lack specific data, please let me know and I will try to address your issue. Your conclusory statements are more appropriately addressed to your experts now and to my experts later (in discovery). Julie
From: Shapiro, William (ENRD) [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 5:16 PM To: Julie Greathouse; [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: AGFC: Recent Information -- PROPOSED RESPONSE Julie Thank you for your response. To be 100% sure I understand your response -- I understand from your response that (a) it is not possible to go out and find the marked trees now and (b) it is not possible to correlate the Kingwood cruise plot data with any map or specific map location. In addition, although you state that the "sample point locations were set out on a mechanical grid system with the first plot location selected from some feature on a map or aerial photo," it is not now possible to locate those plot locations on any set of maps. Therefore, using the available information, our experts can tell in which Compartment a tree count was made; however, it is not possible for our experts to tell where in the Compartment any tree count was made. The level of detail of the Kingwood cruise data, then, cannot be focused any more narrowly than Compartment-wide.
Exhibit 14 to United States' Motion
1/16/2008
Case 1:05-cv-00381-CFL
Is that correct? Bill
Document 53-15
Filed 01/16/2008
Page 3 of 4
From: Julie Greathouse [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 9:37 AM To: Shapiro, William (ENRD); [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: AGFC: Recent Information Bill: I disagree with your assertion that Plaintiff has delayed in responding. We communicated with the Kingwood experts regarding your comments. See explanations below. The sample point locations were set out on a mechanical grid system with the first plot location selected from some feature on a map or aerial photo. Every subsequent plot center was located relative to the first plot location with spacing (measured by pacing) along a predetermined cardinal direction (identified by a hand held compass). At the time of the cruise, each plot center was marked with plastic flagging with plot number ID marked on the flagging. The plot markers were clear and visible and easily relocated within a year or two after being set. Kingwood did not use a Geographic Positioning System to record plot locations. In time, the plastic flagging has been degraded or lost due to the influences of falling trees and limbs, sun, wind, flooding, hikers, hunters, etc. As for the correlation between the shape files and plot data, the data can be correlated to the sampled areas but the actual plot locations cannot be recreated on the shape files for the reasons set forth above. Julie
From: Shapiro, William (ENRD) [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thu 1/3/2008 5:26 PM To: Julie Greathouse; [email protected] Cc: [email protected]; Shapiro, William (ENRD) Subject: Re: AGFC: Recent Information Julie -- Plaintiff's delay in getting us this information makes it impossible to make a response to these reports. If you are not able to make your experts available next week, please let me know by tomorrow so that we can determine our next step. I will be out tomorrow, but checking email. Thanks, Bill Sent Using U.S. DOJ/ENRD BES Server ----- Original Message ----From: Julie Greathouse
Exhibit 14 to United States' Motion
1/16/2008
Case 1:05-cv-00381-CFL
Cc: [email protected] Subject: AGFC: Recent Information Julie,
Document 53-15
Filed 01/16/2008
Page 4 of 4
This will confirm receipt of your letters dated December 20 and 21, 2007, and transmittal of additional data (numbered AGFC 10718-10724, AGFC 10725-10731, and the Kingwood Shape Files (which I have been able to download, but not open). Our experts have been able to open the Kingwood Shape Files, and tell me that it is impossible to understand the data without further information. For example, the maps appear to show the general location of plot lines from the first inventory completed in 2000; they do not contain information necessary to allow someone to associate the supplied individual plot data with the actual ground location of the data. In addition, the shape files appear to show areas inventoried, but there is no way to correlate the shape files to the plot data. Perhaps we can resolve these issues by talking directly to someone at Kingwood. Would you be willing to allow our experts to talk to someone at Kingwood within the next few days to try to resolve this?
Exhibit 14 to United States' Motion
1/16/2008
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