diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6e5c62c38ab8..f1def5cfd131 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Deprecated
 
+## [2.49.1] - 2024-10-07
+
+### Fixed
+
+- Removed erroneous asserts that blocked some use cases in creating route handles
+
 ## [2.49.0] - 2024-10-04
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 0f06772e49dc..7db50cdad264 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ endif ()
 
 project (
   MAPL
-  VERSION 2.49.0
+  VERSION 2.49.1
   LANGUAGES Fortran CXX C)  # Note - CXX is required for ESMF
 
 # Set the possible values of build type for cmake-gui
diff --git a/base/MAPL_EsmfRegridder.F90 b/base/MAPL_EsmfRegridder.F90
index 91df059e6623..97587cf6421d 100644
--- a/base/MAPL_EsmfRegridder.F90
+++ b/base/MAPL_EsmfRegridder.F90
@@ -1530,9 +1530,9 @@ subroutine create_route_handle(this, kind, rc)
               _VERIFY(status)
            case (REGRID_METHOD_PATCH)
 
-              _ASSERT(.not.has_mask, "destination masking with this regrid type is unsupported")
               call ESMF_FieldRegridStore(src_field, dst_field, &
                    & regridmethod=ESMF_REGRIDMETHOD_PATCH, &
+                   & dstMaskValues = dstMaskValues, &
                    & linetype=ESMF_LINETYPE_GREAT_CIRCLE, & ! closer to SJ Lin interpolation weights?
                    & srcTermProcessing = srcTermProcessing, &
                    & factorList=factorList, factorIndexList=factorIndexList, &
@@ -1540,26 +1540,28 @@ subroutine create_route_handle(this, kind, rc)
               _VERIFY(status)
            case (REGRID_METHOD_CONSERVE_2ND)
 
-              _ASSERT(.not.has_mask, "destination masking with this regrid type is unsupported")
               call ESMF_FieldRegridStore(src_field, dst_field, &
                    & regridmethod=ESMF_REGRIDMETHOD_CONSERVE_2ND, &
+                   & dstMaskValues = dstMaskValues, &
                    & linetype=ESMF_LINETYPE_GREAT_CIRCLE, & ! closer to SJ Lin interpolation weights?
                    & srcTermProcessing = srcTermProcessing, &
                    & factorList=factorList, factorIndexList=factorIndexList, &
                    & routehandle=route_handle, unmappedaction=unmappedaction, rc=status)
               _VERIFY(status)
            case (REGRID_METHOD_CONSERVE, REGRID_METHOD_CONSERVE_MONOTONIC, REGRID_METHOD_VOTE, REGRID_METHOD_FRACTION)
-              _ASSERT(.not.has_mask, "destination masking with this regrid type is unsupported")
+
               call ESMF_FieldRegridStore(src_field, dst_field, &
                    & regridmethod=ESMF_REGRIDMETHOD_CONSERVE, &
+                   & dstMaskValues = dstMaskValues, &
                    & srcTermProcessing = srcTermProcessing, &
                    & factorList=factorList, factorIndexList=factorIndexList, &
                    & routehandle=route_handle, unmappedaction=unmappedaction, rc=status)
               _VERIFY(status)
            case (REGRID_METHOD_NEAREST_STOD)
-              _ASSERT(.not.has_mask, "destination masking with this regrid type is unsupported")
+
               call ESMF_FieldRegridStore(src_field, dst_field, &
                    & regridmethod=ESMF_REGRIDMETHOD_NEAREST_STOD, &
+                   & dstMaskValues = dstMaskValues, &
                    & factorList=factorList, factorIndexList=factorIndexList, &
                    & routehandle=route_handle, unmappedaction=unmappedaction, rc=status)
               _VERIFY(status)