§7751 Cooperation

Summary

The Secretary may work with other federal agencies, states and local governments, foreign governments, organizations, and other people to carry out these plant protection programs. Partners must have the legal authority to operate on land in the foreign country or state (except U.S.‑owned land) and must provide any other facilities or resources the Secretary says are needed. The Secretary can give biological pest‑control methods to states, federal agencies, or others, and can help run programs to improve plants, plant products, and biological control organisms. Plant health problems for imports and exports must be handled using sound science and follow international agreements. To do that, the Secretary can negotiate directly with foreign plant health officials, offer technical help and training to countries that ask, and keep plant health experts working in other countries to set up systems, help with protection work, and serve as liaisons. A state may pass on any cost‑sharing help or financing it gets under a cooperative agreement with the Secretary to a local government that is working on the same pest eradication, prevention, control, or suppression. To receive that help, the local government must be doing work on the pest covered by the agreement and must be able to document the pest‑control activities usually carried out by the Department of Agriculture or the state agriculture department.