Working Together to Meet the Goals of the Mississippi River Basin/Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force.

The Hypoxia Task Force (HTF) is a voluntary and collaborative 12-state/federal partnership working to reduce nutrient pollution in the Mississippi River Basin and hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. The HTF goal is to reduce the five-year running average areal extent of the hypoxic zone to less than 5,000 square kilometers by 2035 with an interim target of a 20% reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus loading by 2025 using quantitative measures in each state to track progress.

The 10 states bordering the Mississippi River and two Ohio River states are members. Each HTF state is represented by its agriculture, pollution control, or natural resources agency; member agencies are encouraged to work with all relevant state agencies to achieve HTF goals. Each HTF state has a draft or final nutrient reduction strategy; most states have begun implementing strategies to meet the HTF nutrient reduction goals to shrink the size of the dead zone in the northern Gulf.

The HTF states work collaboratively with nonprofit, industry and local organizations to implement projects at the watershed scale strategically in each state; these partnerships are key to meeting the HTF goal. The Task Force and the basin-state Land Grant Universities sealed an important partnership in 2014 with extension and research experts and scientists working to solve the questions raised as HTF-LGU priorities for collaboration.

EPA and all federal HTF members continue to support partnerships by leveraging the interests, expertise, and resources through their programs, including continued Gulf dead zone monitoring, a branded long-term monitoring collaborative, and significant investments in conservation on private lands.