Photo Credits

Cover: Louisiana Office of Tourism

Contents: Louisiana Office of Tourism

Page 2: Nancy Rabalais, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium

Page 6: Nancy Rabalais, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium

Page 8: Louisiana Office of Tourism (barge)

Pages 9-10: Louisiana Office of Tourism (all)

Page 12: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service

John H. McShane, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (crane)

Page 16: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service

Page 18: Keith Weller, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service

Page 20: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gulf of Mexico Program Office

Page 22: Louisiana Office of Tourism

Pages 23-24: Ken Hammond, U.S. Department of Agriculture (catfish fisherman)

Garry D. McMchael, U.S. Department of Agriculture (rice harvesting)

U.S. Department of Agriculture (wheat)

Page 26: Louisiana Office of Tourism
Purpose ................................................................................................................................. 1

Background on Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico ...................................................... 5

Long-Term Goals ................................................................................................................... 9

Implementation Actions ....................................................................................................... 11

Framework and Approach for Reducing Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico .............................. 15

Adaptive Management: Action, Monitoring, and Research ................................................... 19

Indicators of Implementation and Results ............................................................................ 23

Task Force Members ........................................................................................................... 29

Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................. 30

Additional Information........................................................................................................ 31

Resources and References .................................................................................................... 31
1

This Action Plan describes a national strategy to

reduce the frequency, duration, size and degree of

oxygen depletion of the hypoxic zone of the northern

Gulf of Mexico (the Gulf). The Plan is the result of

several years of study and discussion by the members

of the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed

Nutrient Task Force (the Task Force) and many

concerned officials and citizens who participated in

their deliberations. This Plan is submitted in

accordance with The Harmful Algal Bloom and

Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998,

Title VI of Public Law 105-383, section 604(b),

enacted on November 13, 1998.
2
This Action Plan is informed by the findings of the Committee

on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) Integrated

Assessment of Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico along with

many comments submitted about it and the six topic reports on which

it is based. In addition, the Task Force considered several other significant reports, including Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia: Land and Sea

Interactions (Downing et al., 1999), The Role of the Mississippi River

in Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia (Carey et al., 1999, for the Fertilizer

Institute), and Clean Coastal Waters: Understanding and Reducing

the Effects of Nutrient Pollution (National Research Council, 2000).

The Task Force members drew on their many years of experience in

agricultural and environmental policy in formulating this Action Plan.

The Task Force also listened carefully to dozens of statements by

members of the public during its seven public meetings and

in written comments.

Improved coordination and, in most cases, expansion of the

excellent private and government-supported efforts to

reduce losses of nutrients are central to the success of this

strategy. Throughout the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Basin

much work is under way to increase the efficiency of farming

practices and restore wetlands and riparian buffers. In

addition, industry and local governments are beginning to

undertake additional efforts to reduce nutrient loadings from

point sources and urban runoff. Also, efforts under way in

the Mississippi River Basin to identify and implement

nonstructural alternatives to flood control and to address

coastal land loss in Louisiana will contribute to reducing the

impact of nutrient loads in the Mississippi River on the

northern Gulf. Implementation, and expansion, of those

This plan describes an

adaptive approach,

based on

implementation,

monitoring, and

research to address

known problems,

clarify scientific

uncertainties, and

evaluate the

effectiveness of efforts

to reduce hypoxia.

Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

3
efforts will continue to

deliver improvements

to water quality

throughout the basin

and in the Gulf.

The work of the Task

Force has provided a basinwide context for the continued

pursuit of both incentive-based,

voluntary efforts for nonpoint sources

and existing regulatory controls for point

sources. Furthermore, research and monitoring

that support the proposed remedies and goals in this

plan, as well as resolution of uncertainties identified in the CENR

Integrated Assessment and elsewhere, are identified as priorities for

future action.

The Action Plan proposes an implementation approach to carry out

an initial set of 11 priority actions and, subsequently, make adjustments

to that initial approach as we evaluate results. This plan describes an

adaptive approach, based on implementation, monitoring, and research,

to address known problems, clarify scientific uncertainties, and evaluate

the effectiveness of efforts to reduce hypoxia. Because of the

importance of enhancing these efforts by increasing support for

necessary incentives, monitoring, and research, this plan also identifies

the need for additional resources.

Purpose

4

Mississippi River Basin
5

Scientific investigations document a zone on the Gulf

of Mexico’s Texas-Louisiana Shelf with seasonally

low oxygen levels (<2mg/l). Between 1993 and

1999 the zone of midsummer bottom-water hypoxia

in the northern Gulf of Mexico has been estimated to

be larger than 10,000 km2 (4,000 square miles). In

1999, it was 20,000 km2 (8,000 square miles),

about the size of the State of New Jersey, and in

2000, the zone was measured as only 4,400 km2

(1,700 square miles), resulting in a 5-year running

average of 14,128 km2

 (5,454 square miles) for

1996-2000. The hypoxic zone is a result of

complicated interactions involving excessive

nutrients, primarily nitrogen, carried to the Gulf by

the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers; physical

changes in the basin, such as channelization and loss

of natural wetlands and vegetation along the banks

as well as wetland conversions throughout the basin;

and the stratification in the waters of the northern

Gulf caused by the interaction of fresh river water

and the saltwater of the Gulf.
6
Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are essential for

healthy marine and freshwater environments. However, an

overabundance can trigger excessive algal growth (or eutrophication),

which can result in several possible ecosystem responses. In the

nearshore Gulf, excessive algal growth, driven primarily by excess

nitrogen, results in a decrease in dissolved oxygen in the bottom water,

and a corresponding loss of aquatic (water column and benthic) habitat.

Mobile organisms leave the hypoxic zone and those that cannot leave

die or are weakened depending on how low the oxygen level becomes

and for how long. In the Gulf, fish, shrimp, crabs, zooplankton, and

other important fish prey are significantly less abundant in bottom

waters in areas that experience hypoxia.

Additionally, water quality throughout the Mississippi and Atchafalaya

Rivers Basin (the Basin) has been degraded by excess nutrients. Most

States in the Basin have significant river miles impaired by high nutrient

concentrations, primarily phosphorus, meaning that they are not fully

supporting aquatic life uses. In some areas groundwater supplies are

threatened by excess nitrate, which can be a human health hazard.

A significant portion of the nutrients entering the Gulf from the

Mississippi River come from human activities: discharges from sewage

treatment and industrial wastewater treatment plants and stormwater

runoff from city streets and farms. Nutrients from automobile exhaust

About 90% of

the nitrate load

to the Gulf

comes from

nonpoint

sources.

Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

7
8

and fossil fuel power plants also enter the waterways and the Gulf

through air deposition to the vast land area drained by the Mississippi

River and its tributaries. About 90% of the nitrate load to the Gulf

comes from nonpoint sources. About 56% of the nitrate load enters

the Mississippi River above the Ohio River. The Ohio River Basin

adds 34%. High nitrogen loads come from basins receiving wastewater

discharges and draining agricultural lands in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana,

southern Minnesota, and Ohio.

The primary approaches to reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico

appear to be to 1) reduce nitrogen loads from watersheds to streams

and rivers in the Basin and 2) restore and enhance denitrification and

nitrogen retention within the Basin and on the coastal plain of

Louisiana. Annual load estimates based on water-quality measurements

and streamflow records indicate that a 40% reduction in total nitrogen

flux to the Gulf is necessary to return to average loads comparable to

those during 1955-1970. Model simulations suggest that, short of

the 40% reduction necessary to return to levels in the mid-century,

nutrient load reductions of about 20%-30% would result in a

15%-50% increase in bottom water dissolved oxygen concentrations.

Because any oxygen increase above the 2 mg/l threshold will have a

significant positive effect on marine life, even small reductions in

nitrogen loads are desirable.

While the primary focus of this strategy is on reducing nitrogen loads

to the northern Gulf, many of the actions proposed through this plan

will also achieve basinwide improvements in surface-water quality by

reducing phosphorus as well. Likewise, actions taken to address local

water quality problems in the basin will frequently also contribute to

reductions in nitrogen loadings to the Gulf.

Background on Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
9

he goals of this strategy are threefold and based

upon five principles:

1. Encourage actions that are voluntary,

practical, and cost-effective;

2. Utilize existing programs, including existing

State and Federal regulatory mechanisms;

3. Follow adaptive management;

4. Identify additional funding needs and sources

during the annual Agency budget process; and,

5. Provide measurable outcomes as outlined

below in the three goals and strategies.

Coastal Goal: By the year 2015, subject to the availability of

additional resources, reduce the 5-year running average areal extent

of the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone to less than 5,000 square

kilometers through implementation of specific, practical, and costeffective voluntary actions by all States, Tribes, and all categories of

sources and removals within the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin

to reduce the annual discharge of nitrogen into the Gulf.

Within Basin Goal: To restore and protect the waters of the 31

States and Tribal lands within the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin

through implementation of nutrient and sediment reduction actions

to protect public health and aquatic life as well as reduce negative

impacts of water pollution on the Gulf of Mexico.

Quality of Life Goal: To improve the communities and economic

conditions across the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin, in

particular the agriculture, fisheries, and recreation sectors, through

improved public and private land management and a cooperative,

incentive based approach.

T
10
11

The guiding principle of this plan is that when

establishing priorities for watershed restoration,

States, Tribes, and Federal agencies within the

Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin will

consider the potential for benefits to the Gulf of

Mexico, direct current and increased resources to

cost-effective, practical actions that will reduce

discharges and runoff of nutrients in the Mississippi

and Atchafalaya River Basin, and give priority to

watersheds with the highest yields (loads per unit

area) of nitrogen to the Gulf as well as being likely

to have local benefits.

Using available data, tools, and local partnerships,

the Task Force will serve as the national forum to

encourage and coordinate implementation, including

assessments, research, monitoring, and modeling,

and promote adaptive management, including

evaluation of progress, updates of goals and

strategies, and solicitation of continued financial

support, to achieve the goals described on page 9.

The Action Plan assumes continuation of the

Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed

Nutrient Task Force with invitations for

participation by additional States and Tribes in the

Basin. The Plan also assumes that Federal, State,

and Tribal governments will pursue new legislative

authorities needed to implement proposed actions

and will identify and propose appropriations needed

to accomplish tasks not presently funded.
12
The following short-term actions and time frames are proposed to achieve

the long-term goals outlined above:

1

By December 2000, the Task Force, with

input from the States and Tribes within the

Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin, will

develop and submit to the appropriate Federal Agencies an integrated budget proposal

for additional funds for voluntary technical

and financial assistance, education, environmental enhancement, research, and monitoring programs to support the actions

outlined in the Action Plan;

2

By Summer 2001, States and Tribes in the

Basin, in consultation with the Task Force,

will establish sub-basin committees to

coordinate implementation of the Action

Plan by major sub-basins, including coordination among smaller watersheds, Tribes,

and States in each of those sub-basins;

3

By Fall 2001, the Task Force will develop

an integrated Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Research

Strategy to coordinate and promote

necessary research and modeling efforts to

reduce uncertainties regarding the sources,

effects (including economic effects in the

Gulf as well as the basin), and geochemical

processes for hypoxia in the Gulf;

4

By Spring 2002, Coastal States, Tribes,

and relevant Federal agencies will greatly

expand the long-term monitoring program

for the hypoxic zone, including greater

temporal and spatial data collection, measurements of macro-nutrient and micronutrient concentrations and hypoxia as well

as measures of the biochemical processes

that regulate the inputs, fate, and distribution of nutrients and organic material;

5

By Spring 2002, States, Tribes, and

Federal agencies within the Mississippi and

Atchafalaya River Basin will expand the

existing monitoring efforts within the Basin

to provide both a coarse resolution

assessment of the nutrient contribution of

various sub-basins and a high resolution

modeling technique in these smaller

watersheds to identify additional

management actions to help mitigate

nitrogen losses to the Gulf, and nutrient

loadings to local waters, based on the interim

guidance established by the National Water

Quality Monitoring Council;

6

By Fall 2002, States, Tribes, and Federal

agencies within the Mississippi and

Atchafalaya River Basin, using available data

and tools, local partnerships, and coordiAction Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

13
nation through sub-basin committees,

described in action #2, will develop strategies for nutrient reduction. These strategies

will include setting reduction targets for

nitrogen losses to surface waters, establishing a baseline of existing efforts for nutrient management, identifying opportunities

to restore floodplain wetlands (including

restoration of river inflows) along and adjacent to the Mississippi River, detailing needs

for additional assistance to meet their goals,

and promoting additional funding;

7

By December 2002, the U.S. Army Corps

of Engineers (COE), in cooperation with

States, Tribes, and other Federal agencies,

will, if authorized by the Congress and

funded in the Fall of 2001, complete a

reconnaissance-level study of potential

nutrient reduction actions that could be

achieved by modifying COE projects or

project operations. Prior to completion

of the reconnaissance study, the COE will

incorporate nitrogen reduction considerations, not requiring major modification of

significant new costs, into all project

implementation actions;

8

By January 2003, or on a time frame

established by the sub-basin committees,

Clean Water Act permitting authorities

within the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River

Basin will identify point source dischargers

with significant discharges of nutrients and

undertake steps to reduce those loadings,

consistent with action #6;

9

By Spring 2003, or on a time frame established by the sub-basin committees,

States and Tribes within the Mississippi and

Atchafalaya River Basin, with support from

Federal agencies, will increase assistance to

landowners for voluntary actions to restore,

enhance, or create wetlands and vegetative

or forested buffers along rivers and streams

within priority watersheds consistent with

action #6;

10

By Spring 2003, or on a time frame established by the sub-basin committees,

States and Tribes within the Mississippi and

Atchafalaya River Basin, with support from

Federal agencies, will increase assistance

to agricultural producers, other landowners, and businesses for the voluntary

implementation of best management practices (BMPs), which are effective in addressing loss of nitrogen to waterbodies,

consistent with action #6; and

11

By December 2005, and every five years

thereafter, the Task Force will assess the

nutrient load reductions achieved and the

response of the hypoxic zone, water

quality throughout the Basin, and

economic and social effects. Based on this

assessment, the Task Force will determine

appropriate actions to continue to

implement this strategy or, if necessary,

revise the strategy.

Implementation Actions

14
15

There are no simple solutions that will reduce hypoxia

in the Gulf. An optimal approach would take

advantage of the full range of possible actions to

reduce nutrient loads and increase nitrogen retention

and denitrification. This should proceed within a

framework that encourages adaptive management

and accomplishes this in a cost-effective manner.

While reduction of nitrogen is the principal focus of

this framework, many of the actions needed to

reduce nitrogen loads will complement and enhance

existing efforts to restore water quality throughout

the basin. With additional assistance, this national

effort to reduce Gulf hypoxia will be implemented

within the existing array of State and Federal laws,

programs, and private initiatives.
16
The tools provided by the Clean Water Act, and the programs

established under the last several Farm Bills, the Coastal

Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act, and Water

Resources Development Acts, are critical to implementing this plan.

Because nutrient overenrichment is a widespread problem, these

existing national programs and initiatives incorporate specific elements

intended to reduce nutrient loadings to surface waters and to foster

restoration of natural habitats capable of removing nutrients from

waters. They include the following:

• encouraging nonpoint source pollutant reductions under the

Clean Water Act, the Farm Bill, Coastal Zone Amendments

and Reauthorization Act, and State cost-sharing programs;

• implementation of the Environmental Quality Incentives

Program (EQIP) to assist grain and livestock producers in

reducing excessive nutrients’ movement to water resources;

• implementation of the Conservation Reserve Program,

Wetlands Reserve Program, Corps of Engineers

Environmental Restoration Programs, and Agricultural

Extension Education Programs to promote restoration and

enhancement of natural systems for nitrogen retention and

denitrification;

• implementation of nutrient management through State and

Tribal efforts to implement watershed-based approaches to

water quality management, including monitoring and

assessing waters, adoption of water quality standards, which

include nutrient criteria, developing total maximum daily

Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

17
loads (TMDLs), and implementing point source

controls for nutrients through the National Pollutant

Discharge Elimination System (NPDES);

• promoting public-private partnerships to restore

buffers;

• promoting cost-effective flood control alternatives

and implementing projects under the Coastal

Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act

that result in nitrogen removal from the Mississippi

and Atchafalaya Rivers;

• supporting actions by non-water quality State and Tribal

agencies, private landowners, and agricultural and other

industries to reduce nitrogen loadings to the basin; and

• providing voluntary incentives for nitrogen reductions from

point and nonpoint sources.

This plan recognizes and builds upon these requirements, programs,

and initiatives. A successful strategy to restore water quality in the

Gulf of Mexico will almost certainly benefit water quality throughout

the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin.

Framework and Approach for Reducing Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico

18
19

The complex nature of nutrient cycling and transport

within the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River basins

and Gulf of Mexico makes it difficult to predict

specific improvements in water quality that will

occur both in the Gulf as well as the entire

Mississippi River basin for a given course of action.

Further, it is clear that environmental responses to

management actions in the basin likely will be slow,

possibly requiring decades to demonstrate that

remedial actions have helped the recovery of oxygen

concentrations in the Gulf and have improved water

quality in the Basin. Finally, while the current

understanding of the causes and consequences of

Gulf of Mexico hypoxia is drawn from a massive

amount of direct and indirect evidence collected and

reported over many years of scientific inquiry,

significant uncertainties remain. Further monitoring,

modeling, and research are needed to reduce those

uncertainties in future assessments and to aid

decision making in an adaptive management

framework. A comprehensive program of planning,

monitoring, interpretation, modeling, and research

to facilitate improvement in scientific knowledge

and adjustments in management practices should be

coupled to the initial nutrient management strategies

developed in Implementation Action #6 of this plan.

This adaptive management scheme involves

continual feedback between interpretation of new

information and improved management actions and

is the key to targeting actions within watersheds

where they will be most effective.
20
This adaptive approach should consist of the following

 components:

Action: implementing the actions identified in this plan, including

developing sub-basin strategies based on state strategies, initiating

additional monitoring and research, and pursuing a national

commitment to supporting actions to reduce and mitigate the impacts

of hypoxia in the Gulf. The best current science indicates that subbasin strategies, in the aggregate, should be aimed at

achieving a 30% reduction (from the average discharge in

the 1980-1996 time frame) in nitrogen discharges to the

Gulf (on a 5-year running average) to be consistent with

the Coastal Goal for reducing the areal extent of hypoxia

in the Gulf;

Education: increasing the stakeholder and national

awareness of the causes and effects of hypoxia, the actions

under way or planned to reduce those effects, and the role

of State, local, and Tribal governments as well as individual

landowners, citizens, and businesses to contribute to the

solution. Make this information available through electronic

media and workshops sharing the latest news on successful

approaches and reductions;

Monitoring: increasing the scale and frequency of

monitoring of both the extent of the hypoxic zone and the

sources of nutrients and conditions of waters throughout

the basin;

The best current

science indicates that

sub-basin strategies, in

the aggregate, should

be aimed at achieving a

30% reduction (from

the average discharge

in the 1980-1996 time

frame) in nitrogen

discharges to the Gulf

(on a 5-year running

average) to be

consistent with the

Coastal Goal for

reducing the areal

extent of hypoxia

 in the Gulf.

Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

21
Research and Modeling:

reducing the uncertainties

in the effects of the hypoxic zone, the sources,

contributing factors and

the biochemical processes

that underlie the causes

and effects of the hypoxic

zone, and the social and

economic impacts of various control strategies; and

Evaluation and Adaptation: reviewing periodically the results of monitoring and research to assess changing conditions, evaluate performance of specific management actions, and revise this plan, through

the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force.

This plan seeks to take maximum advantage of water quality

improvement efforts under way or planned nationally and proposes a

mechanism to better focus those efforts. Water resources within the

Basin—rivers, wetlands, lakes, estuaries, and streams—and the Gulf

of Mexico are expected to benefit from these efforts. Many specific

water quality improvement actions can be undertaken by industries,

municipalities, farmers, ranchers, and other citizens. These actions can

raise property values, conserve soil, increase productivity, reduce input

costs, and provide habitat for game and fish and revenue from hunting,

fishing, and other recreation. Because of the economic benefits of these

measures to the landowners and other stakeholders who undertake

them, education and voluntary, incentive-based approaches can be

effective in promoting such actions.

Adaptive Management: Action, Monitoring, and Research

22
23

ffective implementation of an action plan to reduce

the size and effect of the hypoxic zone in the

Northern Gulf of Mexico and to improve water

quality within the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River

Basin will require a monitoring strategy that

measures progress toward achieving both long-term

and short-term goals. Feedback from such a

monitoring strategy will facilitate an adaptive

management framework that enables continual

improvement of the action plan with increasing

knowledge of the factors and processes controlling

nutrient losses, their effects on water quality, and

the effectiveness of management actions.

E
24
A multiscale, multidisciplinary, and long-term monitoring

strategy is one of the key implementation actions described

on pages 13 and 14. The strategy must include measurement of

indicators of progress in implementing management or programmatic

actions, indicators of environmental response of water quality in the

Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin and hypoxia in the Gulf of

Mexico, and indicators of economic conditions that can be used to

gauge the significance and implications of management actions. It must

quantify environmental trends and differentiate among trends caused

by changes in climate, streamflow, nutrient and landscape management

measures, Gulf hydrodynamics, and other concurrent factors. Variables

should be measured to quantify the physical, chemical, and biological

processes that affect the cause-and-effect relationships between nutrient

inputs and resulting environmental quality. The strategy must include

periodic data analysis, interpretation, and reporting to all stakeholders

that are involved with design and implementation of management,

remediation, and restoration actions. Analysis and interpretation must

use models that integrate knowledge across scales and

hydrologic compartments from the smallest watershed to

the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin and the Gulf of

Mexico.

A coordinated and supporting research strategy is integral

to maintenance of an effective monitoring strategy and an

adaptive management framework for action. Research efforts

can be targeted on improving monitoring designs, improving

the interpretation of monitoring output, and increasing the

predictive power of models and other assessment tools used

to design and evaluate management actions.

The strategy must

include periodic data

analysis, interpretation,

and reporting to all

stakeholders that are

involved with design

and implementation of

management,

remediation, and

restoration actions.

Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

25
A baseline condition should be established for all indicators and the

monitoring strategy in general to quantify the improvements associated

with management action. The expected delay in the response of

indicators to management actions indicates that additional

improvements in water quality will continue to be realized from actions,

that have already been implemented, as well as from future management

actions. The CENR science assessment has provided large-scale (Basin

and Gulf scale) estimates of baseline conditions in the Mississippi and

Atchafalaya River Basin (generally for the period 1980-1996) and the

Gulf of Mexico (generally for the period 1985-2000). Additional

information available from other sources at more local scales should

be included in these definitions of baseline conditions. In addition,

more recent information may be available to improve these baseline

definitions. The 1997 Hypoxia Response Interagency Activity Report

provides an initial listing of Federal programs that could be evaluated

for participation through programmatic indicators. Baseline conditions

will need to be defined for these indicators.

Indicators of Implementation and Results

26
Environmental Indicators

! Dissolved oxygen concentrations within the current hypoxic zone increase

(above 2 mg/l), resulting in a reduction in the duration and spatial extent of the

hypoxic zone. Data should provide resolution of the spatial extent and

duration of the hypoxic zone.

! Seasonal/annual average nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations and mass

loadings are reduced at key river and tributary stations. Measurement stations

should represent watershed scales ranging from the local scales at which

specific management actions are tested to the scale of the Mississippi and

Atchafalaya River Basin as it discharges to the Gulf.

! Bottom-dwelling communities in the current hypoxic zone in the northern

Gulf return to a diversity and abundance characteristic of non-hypoxic

conditions, and normal migratory patterns of key species are restored.

Economic Indicators

! Population

! Gross Domestic Product

! Industrial Output

! Net Farm Income

! Land Area in Crop Production

! Agricultural Output in numbers of animals and bushels of commodity crop

! Fisheries

Indicators that have been considered for the monitoring strategy

are listed below. A more detailed and comprehensive evaluation

of indicators will be conducted as part of preparing sub-basin

strategies under Implementation Action #6.

Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

27
Programmatic Indicators

The following indicators will be tracked at various scales. In general, nonpoint

sources will be tracked at 8-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) basins and point

sources by discharge location or 8-digit HUC basin:

! Vegetative or forested buffers established along rivers and streams of priority

watersheds.

! Producer/acres enrolled in CRP and WRP.

! Acres in conservation tillage.

! Producers implementing nutrient management plans and the number of acres

affected.

! States with fully approved Nonpoint Pollution Control Programs.

! Percent population served by secondary treatment.

! Percent population served by Advanced Waste Treatment/Biological Nutrient

Removal.

! Reduction in discharges of nitrogen and phosphorus for municipalities.

! Number of municipal stormwater programs approved.

! Estimated/monitored reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus (or surrogate

indicators) for industrial point sources.

! Number of 303(d) water segments listed because of nutrient impairment.

! Number and percent of wetland acres restored, enhanced, or created.

! Completion of TMDLs for nutrient-impaired waters.

! Number of States and Tribes within the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin

achieving Enhanced Benefits status under the 319 Program.

! Number of projects and amount of dollars directed through EQIP, CRP, WRP,

and section 319 in accordance with sub-basin strategies.

Indicators of Implementation and Results

28
Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

29

Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force

Members

Brigadier General Edwin J. Arnold, Jr., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division

Rosina Bierbaum, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Charles Chisolm, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality

J. Charles Fox, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

J. Dale Givens, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality

I. Miley Gonzalez, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Charles Groat, U.S. Department of Interior–U.S. Geological Survey

Joe Hampton, Illinois Department of Agriculture

Elgie Holstein, U.S. Department of Commerce–National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Glenda Humiston, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Patty Judge, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship

Audrey Kohnen, Prairie Island Indian Community

Stephen Mahfood, Missouri Natural Resources Department

Phillip Martin, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

George Meyer, Wisconsin Natural Resources Department

Stephen Saunders, U.S. Department of Interior–Fish and Wildlife and Parks

Lois J. Schiffer, U.S. Department of Justice

Karen Studders, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Dan Wheeler, Tennessee Department of Agriculture

J. Randy Young, Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission

Former Members

Major General Phillip Anderson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Bradley M. Campbell, Council on Environmental Quality

Darrell Campbell, Prairie Island Indian Community

Dale M. Cochran, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship

Becky Doyle, Illinois Department of Agriculture

Thomas Hebert, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Peder Larson, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

James I. Palmer, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality

Robert Perciasepe, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Mark Schaefer, U.S. Department of Interior

David A. Shorr, Missouri Natural Resources Department

Gordon Wegwart, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Sally Yozell, U.S. Department of Commerce–National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

John Zirschky, U.S. Department of the Army
30

Acknowledgments

Special thanks go to all the many Federal, State, and Tribal representatives and their staffs who supported

the efforts of the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force. Their diverse

knowledge and expertise contributed to the successful collaboration and consensus building needed to

produce this plan. In addition, the diligent efforts of all the interested parties throughout the Mississippi

River Basin who provided comments and attended the Task Force meetings are greatly appreciated.

Coordination Committee for the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient

Task Force (Current and Former Members):

Tribes

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians - Bernadette Hudnell

Prairie Island Indian Community - Heather Westra

State Agencies

Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission - Earl Smith

Illinois Department of Agriculture - Warren Goetsch

Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Soil Conservation Division - Jim Gulliford

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality - Linda Korn Levy, Dugan Sabins

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency - Wayne P. Anderson

Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality - Phil Bass

Missouri Natural Resources Department - Ron Kucera

Tennessee Department of Agriculture - Mike Countess

Wisconsin Natural Resources Department - Bruce Baker, Charles Ledin

Federal Agencies

Council on Environmental Quality - William Leary

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Don Pryor, Don Scavia

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Barry Kennedy, Tom Pullen

U.S. Department of Agriculture - Larry Adams, Dale Bucks, Howard Hankin, Ron Harris, Mike O’Neill,

Tim Strickland, Fred Swader

U.S. Department of Justice - Bruce Nilles, Lisa Russell, Scott Siff

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - James Giattina, Robert Wayland

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - David Frugé, Doug Frugé, Dale Hall

U.S. Geological Survey - Herb Buxton, Jeff Williams

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy - Mark T. Anderson

Staff Support for the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Mary Belefski, Rachel Doughty, Larinda Tervelt, John Wilson

U.S. Geological Survey - Don Goolsby

Special Contributors

Honorable Gerald L. Baliles, Governor of Virginia 1986–1990 and author of

“Preserving the Chesapeake”

John Barry, author of “The Rising Tide”

Bill Matuszeski, Director, Chesapeake Bay Program

Thomas Simpson, Maryland Department of Agriculture and University of Maryland

Acknowledgements
Resources

EPA’s Mississippi River Basin homepage at www.epa.gov/msbasin.

Index of public comments received on the Draft Action Plan. Available on EPA’s web site at

www.epa.gov/msbasin/hypoxiacomments.

Integrated Assessment of Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, May 2000. National Science and

Technology Council Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, Washington, DC. For copies or

more information, contact National Ocean Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Coastal Ocean Program, 1315 East-West Highway, Room

9700, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Phone: (301) 713-3338; fax: (301) 713-4044;

e-mail: coastalocean@cop.noaa.gov. The report is also available on NOAA’s Hypoxia in the Gulf web

site at www.nos.noaa.gov/products/pubs_hypox.html.

Analysis of Point Source Nutrient Loadings in the Mississippi River System. Available on EPA’s web site

at www.epa.gov/msbasin/loadings.html.

References

Carey, Anne E., et al. 1999. The Role of the Mississippi River in the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia,

Report No. 70. Environmental Institute, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.

Downing, John A., et al. 1999. Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia: Land and Sea Interactions. Task Force Report

No. 134. Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa. For copies, contact Council for

Agricultural Science and Technology, 4420 West Lincoln Way, Ames, IA 50014-3447.

Phone: (515) 292-2125; fax: (515) 292-4512; e-mail: cast@cast-science.org. The report is also available

on the CAST web site at www.cast-science.org.

National Research Council. 2000. Clean Coastal Waters: Understanding and Reducing the Effects of

Nutrient Pollution. Committee on the Causes and Management of Coastal Eutrophication, Ocean Studies

Board and Water Science and Technology Board, Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and

Resources. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

Additional Information

The Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force prepared this document following

seven public meetings. As part of a process of considering options for responding to Gulf of Mexico hypoxia,

a Federal interagency working group asked the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to

conduct a scientific assessment of the causes and consequences of Gulf hypoxia through its Committee on

Environment and Natural Resources. The working group then expanded to include States and Tribes and

established the Task Force during the fall of 1997. The charge to submit a scientific assessment of hypoxia

and a plan for reducing, mitigating, and controlling hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico was written into law at

the end of the 105th Congress (section 604(a) and (b) of Public Law 105-383). The Mississippi River/Gulf of

Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force held public meetings throughout the Mississippi River Basin to

inform the public of the progress toward development of the assessment and action plan.

First Meeting Second Meeting Third Meeting

December 4, 1997 April 8-9, 1998 September 24, 1998

Arlington, Virginia New Orleans, Louisiana Bloomington, Minnesota

Fourth Meeting Fifth Meeting Sixth Meeting

June 30 through July 1, 1999 November 18, 1999 June 15-16, 2000

Memphis, Tennessee Chicago, Illinois St. Louis, Missouri

Seventh Meeting

October 11, 2000

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

31
For copies of this report, contact:

Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (4503F)

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20460

Mary Belefski: (202) 260-7061, e-mail: belefski.mary@epa.gov

or

John Wilson: (202) 260-7878, e-mail: wilson.john@epa.gov

web site: www.epa.gov/msbasin

For citation of this document, use the following:

Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force.

2001. Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling

Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Washington, DC.