for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia
in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force
January 2001
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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)
Page 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
Page 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
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for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia
in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
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
Contents
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his 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 I Gulf of Mexico Watershed
Nutrient Task Force (the Task Force) and many
concerned officials and citizens ivbo 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.
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Many bottom-dwelling organisms,
fiich as this crab found off the coast of I.ouisiami,
not tolerate low-oxygen conditions.
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Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
his 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 signi-
ficant 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.
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.
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
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Purpose
Mississippi River Basin
f\
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 basin-
wide 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.
GULF OF MEXICO
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acKgrouna on nypoxia
in the
Northern Gulf of Mexico
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Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
About 90% of
the nitrate load
to the Gulf
comes from
nonpoint
sources.
Njtrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are essential tor
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
Comparative Size of Hypoxia Area (1985-2000)
20.000.
1985 I9U 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 I99S 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 S-v«arrunning 20IS
average goal for
(1996-2000) 5-vearrunning
average
Source Njoc> Rat-
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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°o. 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 measurement:
and streamflow records indicate that a 40% reduction in total nitroge
flux to the Gulf is necessary to return to average loads comparable to1
those during 1955-1970. Model simulations suggest that, short o
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/1 threshold will have a
significant positive effect on marine life, even small reductions in
nitrogen loads are desirable.
While the primary tocus 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.
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he goals of this strategy are threefold and based
upon five principles:
1. Encourage actions that are voluntary,
practical, and cost-effective;
I. 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
beloiv 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 /one to less than 5,000 square
kilometers through implementation of specific, practical, and cost-
effective 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.
\V ithin 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 \\ ater 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.
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Long-Term Goals
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he 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.
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Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
The following short-term actions and time frames are proposed to achieve
the long-term goals outlined above:
I
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 Fed-
eral Agencies an integrated budget proposal
for additional funds for voluntary technical
and financial assistance, education, environ-
mental enhancement, research, and moni-
toring programs to support the actions
oudined in the Action Plan;
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, mea-
surements of macro-nutrient and micro-
nutrient concentrations and hypoxiaas well
as measures of the biochemical processes
that regulate the inputs, fate, and distri-
bution of nutrients and organic material;
By Summer 200 /, 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 coord-
ination among smaller watersheds, Tribes,
and States in each of those sub-basins;
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;
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;
By Fall 2002, States, Tribes, and Federal
agencies within the Mississippi and
Atchafalaya River Basin, using available data
and tools, local partnerships, and coordi-
> Budget proposal
(December)
• Establish sub-basin committees
> Research strategy • Expand monitoring program in Gulf
• Expand monitoring program in Basin
13
Winter 2000
Summer 2001
Fall 2001
Spring 2002
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Implementation Actions
nation through sub-basin committees,
described in action #2, will develop strate-
gies for nutrient reduction. These strategies
will include setting reduction targets for
nitrogen losses to surface waters, estab-
lishing a baseline of existing efforts for nutri-
ent management, identifying opportunities
to restore floodplain wetlands (including
restoration of river inflows) along and adja-
cent to the Mississippi River, detailing needs
for additional assistance to meet their goals,
and promoting additional funding;
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 consider-
ations, 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;
By Spring 2003, or on a time frame es-
tablished 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 es-
tablished 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 landown-
ers, and businesses for the voluntary
implementation of best management prac-
tices (BMPs), which are effective in ad-
dressing loss of nitrogen to waterbodies,
consistent with action #6; and
II
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.
• Strategies for nutrient reduction
• U.5. COE completes
reconnaissance study (December)
• Point source actions
(January, 2003)
Wetland and buffer actions begin
• BMPs begin
Revisit and reevaluate strategy
(December)
Fall 2002
Winter 2002
Spring 2003
Winter 2005
14
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here 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 ivill be implemented
within the existing array of State and Federal laws,
programs, and private initiatives.
15
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rti
Framework and
Approach for
Reducing Hypoxia
in the Gulf of Mexico
16
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Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
T.
he 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
17
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Framework and Approach for Reducing Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico
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.
18
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aptive nanageme
Action, Monitoring,
and Research
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Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
T
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 ofhypoxia
in the Gulf.
I his 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 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;
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;
21
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Adaptive M;
Research and Modeling:
reducing the uncertainties
in the effects of the hyp-
oxic 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 vari-
ous control strategies; and
Evaluation and Adaptation: reviewing periodically the results of moni-
toring and research to assess changing conditions, evaluate per-
formance 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 (nilt
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.
22
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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.
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mplementation
and Results
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Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
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.
Amultiscale, 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.
25
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India
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 tor the period 1980-1996) and the
Gulf of Mexico (generally for the period 19S5-2000). 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.
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Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
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.
Environmental Indicators
O Dissolved ox/gen 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.
O 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.
O 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
O Population
O Gross Domestic Product
O Industrial Output
O Net Farm Income
O Land Area in Crop Production
O Agricultural Output in numbers of animals and bushels of commodity crop
O Fisheries
27
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Indicators of Implementation and Results
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:
O Vegetative or forested buffers established along rivers and streams of priority
watersheds.
O Producer/acres enrolled in CRP and WRR
O Acres in conservation tillage.
O Producers implementing nutrient management plans and the number of acres
affected.
O States with fully approved Nonpoint Pollution Control Programs.
O Percent population served by secondary treatment.
O Percent population served by Advanced Waste Treatment/Biological Nutrient
Removal.
O Reduction in discharges of nitrogen and phosphorus for municipalities.
O Number of municipal stormwater programs approved.
O Estimated/monitored reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus (or surrogate
indicators) for industrial point sources.
O Number of 303(d) water segments listed because of nutrient impairment.
O Number and percent of wetland acres restored, enhanced, or created.
O Completion of TMDLs for nutrient-impaired waters.
O Number of States and Tribes within the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin
achieving Enhanced Benefits status under the 319 Program.
O Number of projects and amount of dollars directed through EQIP, CRR WRR
and section 319 in accordance with sub-basin strategies.
28
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Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
Mississippi Ka¥©r/©yDf ©f [Mlesde© Watershed MytirDeoiit Task Fore©
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
29
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Acknowledgements
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 I 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 Pry or, Don Scavia
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Barry Kennedy, Tom Pullen
V.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 Way land
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - David Fruge, Doug Fruge, 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
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Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
Additional Information
The Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force prepared this document following
seven public meetings. As pan 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
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.
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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.
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