LEFT: Ballance's wdrk has helped improve the bite selection process for oyster restoration. RIGHT: A BARGE EMPTIES 



SEVERAL HUNDRED TONS OF LIMESTONE MARL TO CREATE A RESTORATION SITE. 



"It removes some of the guesswork about 

 where we should be restoring oysters," he 

 says. And that's a good thing, he adds, because 

 restoration isn't cheap. 



In 2001, TNC received a multimillion- 

 dollar grant from the National Oceanic and 

 Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to begin 

 working in coastal systems. The North Carolina 

 chapter of TNC received some of that grant to 

 restore the Eastern oyster population in Pamlico 

 Sound. The organization is cooperating with 

 several partners, including the N.C. Division of 

 Marine Fisheries (DMF) and North Carolina Sea 

 Grant. 



Before Ballance's mapping project, site 

 selection lacked a solid historical baseline. "But 

 Gene's work provides a very strong foundation 

 for us to work from," says DeBlieu. And the 

 early results have already proved useful. 



"We've utilized some of Gene's informa- 

 tion to do the first large-scale oyster sanctuary 

 up in the Crab Hole area, between Oregon Inlet 

 and Stumpy Point," notes Craig Hardy, the DMF 

 section chief for resource enhancement. 



DMF and TNC also used Ballance's data to 

 help develop a sanctuary at Clam Shoal, located 

 behind the southeast corner of Hatteras Island, 

 and another in waters just north of Ocracoke 

 Island. 



The Clam Shoal and Crab Hole restoration 

 sites are about 30 acres apiece, and each now 

 contains numerous five- to six-foot-high oyster 

 reefs built of limestone marl. 



"It takes five or six years for a pile of 

 limestone to become an oyster reef," says 

 DeBlieu. The new reefs are developing on 

 schedule. Baby oysters, barnacles, fish and 



shrimp are already a regular sight, notes 

 DeBlieu, who went scuba diving at Clam Shoal 

 last summer and at Crab Hole in the fall. 



"It's not a beautiful place, like a coral reef," 

 he admits. "It's kind of dirty and muddy and 

 crummy looking — but that's an oyster reef. It's 

 not real photogenic." 



The Pamlico Sound project will support 

 additional reefs at each site next summer. The 

 hope is that Clam Shoal and Crab Hole one day 

 will be restored to large, continuous reefs similar 

 to those documented by Winslow, says DeBlieu. 



A SUPERIOR PIECE □ F HISTDRY 



In 1 998, Ballance was mapping sea grass 

 beds near Ocracoke and Hatteras Inlet as part of 

 another FRG project when he was inspired to 

 apply GIS to Winslow's oyster maps. 



But it wasn't until several years later that he 

 met DeBlieu, who also had thought of applying 

 GIS to Winslow's maps. Pooling their collective 

 resources and knowledge, Ballance and DeBlieu 

 identified their first hurdle: obtaining the original 

 maps. 



Because each map is roughly the size 

 of a large kitchen tabletop and hand-drawn 

 on tracing cloth — "it's like wax paper with 

 fibers in it," describes Ballance — they weren't 

 allowed to leave the N.C. Archives. Instead, state 

 officials agreed to scan them at the Outer Banks 

 History Center on Roanoke Island and give 

 digital copies to Ballance and DeBlieu. 



Archives technician Kelly Grimm scanned 

 each chart in eight sections, making sure 

 certain points on each of the scanned sections 

 overlapped so she could "stitch" the digitized 

 pieces back together. Just as in Winslow's time, 



precision was critical: "If one section is off kilter, 

 it throws the whole map off kilter," she says. 



Luckily, finding distinct points on the 

 maps was fairly easy. In addition to Winslow's 

 meticulous drawings, he and his crew also left 

 some personal touches behind. 



"I can tell through the fine detail that 

 different people worked on different projections," 

 says Ballance, noting subtle variation among 

 handwritten letters and numbers. 



Accidental details were equally distinct. 



"You can see the stains on the maps where 

 the men were working," says DeBlieu, referring 

 to the occasional ink smear. 



After the maps were scanned successfully, 

 Ballance received an FRG in 2003 and began 

 applying GIS technology to Winslow's work. 



During the past two years, Ballance has 

 spent countless hours checking, or "ground- 

 truthing," Winslow's projections and determining 

 how much of the historic oyster reefs remain. 



Ballance has verified about a third of the 

 area depicted on Winslow's survey maps. The 

 biggest documented reef measured 230 acres 

 in continuous area, but now only exists in small 

 patches. But no matter the current condition 

 of a reef, Ballance is continually impressed by 

 Winslow's projections. 



"I'm amazed every time I go to one of 

 these beds and see that they could maintain that 

 accuracy through the whole project," he says. 



Winslow and his crew probably worked 

 from a sailing schooner for days on end, only 

 going to shore for food and supplies, Ballance 

 says. Winslow calculated the projections using 

 horizontal sextant angles, measurements taken 

 from three fixed, visible objects on the water that 



16 WINTER 2005 



