8257-R1_MSA_February2023_Singles

From The Executive Board

H ello Friends,

From the President

there are MSA and local Club events going on every weekend, which you will find Calendar of Events listing in this newspaper edition and Club news. Another great resource for all Snowmobile related events happening is social media, most Clubs have a Facebook page and post regularly. If you look at the vast majority of clubs in the State you would be hard pressed to find a more passionate and dedicated group of people, but by our own admission if a Club had an Achilles Heel it would be that we are an aging group. By this I mean that the average age of Club members is.. Well let’s just say that we are not of the Millennial era! If you are a member between 20 and 40 and are reading this, I can almost assure you that if you wanted to become an active part of a Club that they would welcome you with open arms! This age group of young riders in our sport right now are the future of our organization and will need to be the successors of our Clubs andAssociation. We have all had these conversations sitting around the Club meetings and have tossed around different ideas on how to get involvement from our younger riders and members, if there is a magic answer out there I would love to hear it. Is this a serious issue or am I just overreacting? I would love to have more discussion on this in the very near future. Till next month thank you for reading. Mark. January is behind us, the weather was crazy but the Clubs, their Groomer operator’s and volunteers made a lot of great trails out of not much snow. Downed trees and branches were cleared and bridges that were washed out were rebuilt in record time. You people make snowmobiling in Maine a Northeast destination point. Everybody wants to come to Maine and ride because of you folks that make it possible. I can’t thank you all enough! Let’s hope February is better with lots of snow and cold weather. Be safe out there! AL much more common in our lower congested areas of the state, but just this weekend, I witnessed issues in the north too. This bill is aimed primarily to help the landowners and the clubs that throw their credibility on the line at trying to keep trail open. Acquiring trail and an agreement between the landowner and a club member is not easy. When riders clearly make their own trail, it totally jeopar dizes the future of trail if the landowner does not understand. This bill is aimed at hitting the rider that can’t conform without having to drag the landowner to court wasting time. We will continue hard on this process, but we ask clubs to continue to help educate riders that the trail is where we belong. If you are a rider and want off-trail, consult a guide service, or a club that 100 percent knows where they can share the powder, and exploring opportunities. Maine’s trail system is just that, trail that has been asked for and generously provided. To lose it hits us all. Please continue to watch this and get edu cated where this is headed. Take your bride, friend or landowner on a ride and share the fun and enthusiasm. We got it good! John Monk It will soon be February and will be less than two full months from the deadline for the contest. Most families and applicants tell us that the application is not overly daunting. Much of the same information we ask for is required by other scholarships so it’s more of a matter of getting organized. Once you find the time to sit down and work on it we think you’ll find it to be a fairly straight forward and maybe even rewarding process. Judging the applications is something we committee members take very seriously and also we absolutely enjoy reading and judging the essay portions. Often, we are surprised to hear the impact our sport has had on folks at such a young age. Many talk about how as a family the winter is their favorite time of year

January has been a pretty busy month. From TV and Radio interviews to traveling remote parts of Maine! It’s been a journey. We had an excellent monthly meeting put on by Jerry Major’s club at a Church in South Paris. A large turn out from far and near. Our next trip was on to Baileyville in the Woodland area. Agreat meeting put on by Eastern Region VP Eileen and Larry Lafland, held next to the paper mill I felt right at home! Seeing friends like Ed Richards and his crew was a wonderful time. Many clubs from the area we’re there, some hours away. Also, Thanks to Barry and Gail Ryan, Mike Grass for coming along with us and helping out. A big shout out to the 280+ Clubs who maintained and cleared their Trails, not once, not twice but three times and (some maybe more) who may have gotten discouraged after the numerous wind and rain storms late Fall and early Winter, but hung in there and made the Trails that you ride on today. These same Clubs and members that do all of this work before the snow even hits are the same Clubs and members that groom, sign and maintain the Trails after the snow falls. They are also the same Clubs and members that remove the signs, close the gates to block off the trails, and make out all of the paperwork and grant applications to help cover all of the costs mentioned above. However, in many if not most cases the money that comes back to the Clubs through these grants (which we are very much thankful for and could not exist without them) are not enough, and so yes you guessed it, these are the very same Clubs and members that hold numerous fundraisers throughout the year to substantiate the always rising costs of doing business. So if you’re reading this and you are an “inactive” member, I urge you to become active and involve yourself in your local Club and the sport that you obviously love! The involvement and sense of accomplishment will surely pay benefits down the road, I guarantee that! All Clubs Statewide are in full swing and On the MSA Steering Committee side, we are preparing for a couple meetings. One is with a potential lobbyist and the other is look ing at our long term and future of MSA man agement. Our little steering committee has bridged the gap of where we were and where we are now, but the time has come to look long term. What are the MSA goals for the rest of this year? Next Year? Five Year? How can we support clubs further? What kind of content do we want in the paper? Who will continue to lead this area? While none of the committee members have any plans of going anywhere, we do need more input from the clubs and members of the direction of where MSA can go. Please throw ideas at us so we can add everyone’s input. On the legislative front, our bill is in and been currently assigned LR-290. We very recently got asked by the legislative writers to give some more input on what exactly the MSA is trying to accomplish with the bill. We are in the works of completely describing the problem of riders diverting off the trail when the trail is clearly defined. This seems to be your new riding season is off to a good start. I personally have only been out once but with snow continuing to fall and most areas of the state now out grooming I hope to make the most the coming months. The committee is hopeful that we’ll receive lots of applications for this year’s award, with two winners each receiving $1,000 we feel strongly that there should be good inter est. We all know that the cost of education is expensive and seems to always be going up. The MSA scholarship may not be life chang ing but certainly will help support the cost of the pursuit of higher education for our family member. of what clubs crank out with the minimalist of conditions. You people are truly relentless at making the most of what we can have.

Lori Hemmerdinger (207) 890-5455 544 Plains Road • Poland, ME 04274 Treasurer@mesnow.com Treasurer’s Report Respectfully Submitted, Lori Hemmerdinger, Treasurer

Alan Swett, 207-872-7282 234 County Rd, Waterville ME 04901 snowtraveler@roadrunner.com

From the Executive VP

Monthly Income Monthly Expense

$ 30,105.12 $ 25,054.53 $ 5,050.59 $299,276.93 $126,296.45

Net Revenue

Checking (1/31/23)

DedicatedAccount (1/31/23)

Pay Pal (1/31/23) - Special EventsAccount (1/31/23) $ 4,987.53 Credit Line (1/31/23) $ - Building Fund (1/31/23) $ 53,951.34 BrianWass Safety Fund (1/31/23) $ 1,285.35 MSA Scholarship SavingsAccount $ 1,182.00 MSA Scholarship CDAccount $ 60,264.00 $

H ello Everyone, Well it looks like (at least as I am writing to you) that Winter has finally arrived! As we see rideable snow in most parts of the State, I hope that you are getting out and enjoying a little throttle therapy to scratch the itch. It has been a challenging winter thus far to say the least with a very late start for most, and less than desirable ice conditions on many lakes and ponds, but mother nature has a funny way of rebounding in a positive way, which it looks like she might be doing, fingers crossed! Mark Chinnock, Vice President 207-754-9874 544 Plains Road, Poland, ME 04274 napadude66@hotmail.com

From The Membership Corner

Eileen Lafland, 207-843-7813 PO Box 733, Holden ME 04429 L.andE.lafland525476@gmail.com

Steering Committee

H ere are the membership totals as of Jan 23, 2023 Numbers by Region Central Region 1,571 Coastal Region 1,200 Northern Region 1,977 Western Region 2,195 Eastern Region 2,433 Family memberships 7,594 Business memberships 1,793 Total memberships 9,387 There are 254 clubs with memberships entered at this time. Nine clubs are over 100 memberships, 3 clubs over 150 memberships, and three clubs over 200 memberships for a total of fifteen clubs over 100 memberships!! REMEMBER- In order to be counted for the annual membership awards memberships MUST BE in the office by APRIL 1ST. The office will continue to accept memberships after that date, but for contest entry we need them by then so we can order the awards. because they ride and work together. Still oth ers have played an integral part in their club, maybe on trails brushing, building bridges or even grooming. Young members and riders are our future and if our scholarships play a small part in keeping kids connected and involved then we are thankful. If anyone ever has any questions or con cerns I know every single committee member is willing to help, we may not have all the answers but we’ll find someone that does. We can’t stress enough that the application pro cess is open to all, not just traditional 4-year degrees but anyone pursuing post-secondary education. Be safe and hope you all have a great riding season!

John Monk Chairman of Steering Committee monksdoomopars@hermon.net

H ello All,

We are now in the thick of it! Well, some of us are…. January offered up quite a quick turn around and we are now underway. I just recently got back from just under a 400-mile weekend and clubs did not disappoint. Again, I am in awe

Scholarship Committee H ello friends and fellow riders, from all of us the scholarship committee we hope

Harvey Chesley, 207-314-0637 25 Hillcrest Dr, Clinton ME 04927 harv.chesley@gmail.com

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