Seven Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) are working together to identify key scientific uncertainties associated with design and management of a sustainable ecosystem/floodplain landscape that provides multiple benefits for agricultural productivity, water quality, and wildlife conservation—both locally and in the Gulf of Mexico. Online meetings through the summer are preparing for a Mississippi River Basin / Gulf Hypoxia Structured Decision Making Workshop to be held August 12 – 14, 2014 at the Ducks Unlimited Headquarters in Memphis, TN, to convene 30 key representatives integrating a range of perspectives. The ultimate goal of this multi-LCC effort is to prioritize agricultural conservation areas by mapping the most cost-effective and receptive places for implementing practices with multiple benefits for wildlife, water quality and agricultural production (ecosystem services). The effort is designed to be complementary to the principles and goals of the Hypoxia Task Force, Mississippi River Basin Initiative, and similar existing efforts, with a common mission to reduce nutrient loading through watershed and effectively achieve water quality benefits both locally and in the Gulf of Mexico, but with an integrated focus on habitat conservation.
