The Restore M-44 Act would roll back a recent interagency agreement and a funding-era restriction to expand how federal wildlife damage management is carried out. Specifically, it requires the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to rescind a Master Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) about wildlife damage management signed in 2023, effectively nullifying that agreement. It also overturns a prohibition tied to the 2024 appropriations that limited the USDA’s ability to purchase, deploy, and train third parties on M-44 sodium cyanide ejector devices (and related components/1080 pesticide) and removes congressional reporting requirements about implementing that prohibition. In short, the bill would permit broader use of M-44 devices by third parties and reduce Congressional oversight on this activity.
Key Points
- 1Directs the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to rescind the Master Memorandum of Understanding (BLM-MOU-HQ230-2023-05) related to wildlife damage management, making the MOU void and without force.
- 2Overturns the prohibition language from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 explanatory statement that restricted the purchase, deployment, and training of third parties to use M-44 sodium cyanide ejector devices and related components (including 1080).
- 3Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to purchase, deploy, and train third parties on the use of M-44 devices, and to handle components and sodium fluoroacetate (1080).
- 4States that the Secretary is not required to provide updates to congressional committees about the implementation of the prohibition on M-44 usage.
- 5Provides the bill’s short title: the Restore M-44 Act.