8492-R1_MSA_September2023

From The Executive Board

From the President

in for an old fashion winter. There’s always a silver lining somewhere, sometimes you just have to look for it! We at the MSA would like to welcome back all its Clubs and their membership to another season of snowmobiling in our great State of Maine. We are truly a destination State when it comes to snowmobiling which ALL of us in this sport have created in one way or another. There isn’t one New England State that doesn’t have Snowmobilers that don’t pack their gear bags and load up their sleds and trek North to ride somewhere in Maine. The reason that tens of thousands of riders do this is because the State of Maine puts out the best recreational snowmobiling product hands down! This Winter wonderland that we have before us does not come without a cost, it does not come without long hours of hard work, hard work that is done mostly on the backs of volunteers. Volunteers that are as passionate about creating this Snowmobiling Mecca as they are about riding the final product, which they have laid out for all of us to enjoy. We are a 600-million-dollar-a-year industry and play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy economy for our State. This industry was not created by accident, it was created by design and took nearly 60 years to get to the point where we are now. We (the MSA and its membership) are a strong voice at the snowmobile related State departments as well as being a very respected voice at the State We’ve had a legislative bill passed to protect our landowners and hopefully keep riders on marked trails. This off trail riding bill enforces riders to stay on marked trails. Our landowners are generous enough to let us use their land and we have the responsibility to help them by keeping folks on marked trials. The Raffle tickets are going out of the office very fast; many clubs from the North to the South are getting in on the action. PLEASE make sure you have your permit with you to sell the tickets. We have great prizes again this year. 2023 Arctic Cat ZR8000 from Kramer’s in Sidney. A 2023 Polaris Pro Star 900 137 from County Sports in Caribou and a Ski Doo 200 from Mountainside Powersports in Wilton. Excellent sleds for a wide range of riders. Also, from our friends at Nitro Trailers intense days of stuffing the envelopes and boxes. With all four of us working together, the membership packets are ready to go!! In fact, by the time you read this many clubs will already have theirs in hand! The four of us had them ready for the August Directors meeting. Any club at that meeting could pick theirs up with regional VP’s and regional directors and others taking most of the rest of them. Al did mail some as well to clubs who asked for them. Now, let’s get the memberships sold and back to the office as soon as you can! In each membership packet, with a few exceptions of clubs that already had them, you will find super raffle tickets. We are hoping clubs will sell these tickets and submit the money back to the office once they are sold. This year’s prizes are BIG! We were fortunate enough to be able to purchase the sleds early so we would like to have money back in the office to replenish that fund. Your membership packets also include the club handbook which contains much information. Please share the info with club members, especially new members, so they can understand what MSA is all about as well. In the packet for membership chairs is a blank transmittal form and instruction on challenging times but I’m confident we can make it happen with the best volunteers in the country. I’m very proud of every one of you, small clubs, large clubs you all make Maine a destination point for snowmobilers from all over the USA! From Kittery to Madawaska, there’s a piece of snowmobile trail puzzle that is as important as a straight away with miles of trail. Thank you for all you do.

House when it comes to any legislation regarding our sport. We are very fortunate to have Lobbyist James Cote on our team who is the eyes and ears representing our membership and our sport at the State House. A very conscientious person as well as a passionate snowmobiler himself he is and has truly been an asset to all of us who wish to see our sport succeed. We all have some definite issues that plague and threaten our sport that have been brewing for some time, it’s been kind of a snowball effect (no pun intended) and they don’t seem to be going in the right direction. One is the generation gap within our membership, there seem to be Very few Clubs around the State that have an ample supply of young people willing to step up, become active and help with the boots on the ground work that is typically being done by an aging generation that is getting tired. Whether its’s trail maintenance, Grant work, fund raising or Grooming duties even in some of the larger clubs this work seems to fall on an aging core group of volunteers. I realize that our forefathers in this sport were having these same conversations 50 years ago and things seem to have a way of working themselves out, but it still is very concerning to me more than ever. I’m not sure that there is one single magical answer for this, however if anyone has suggestions on this, I would love to open up a line of conversation on this issue. The second issue that concerns me is We’ve been busy over the summer attending events and club meetings. Please call us if you need anything, we’re here to help. Thanks for all you do! Al in Pittsfield a X Sport 101X12 snowmobile trailer. Plus, from Alcom in Winslow a Hybrid 7.5X16 Low Pro sled trailer. These are incredible prizes from two of the BEST trailer manufactures in the USA! Made right here in our backyard. Gift cards from Shaker Hill, Kittery Trading Post and Shin Pond Village plus many other incredible prizes from incredible supporting businesses. Thank you for supporting our clubs. James Cote our new Lobbyist has been working hard keeping us up to date on issues at the State House. He’s a great asset for us. Getting ready for the next session, he’s preparing us for new bills that will be of interest to our snowmobiling community. If anyone has any questions or ideas, please let us know. Liz should be back in September, just in time for the show and raffle tickets! She’s been out on medical leave.

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

W elcome Snowmobilers to the 2023 - 2024 new season! Hopefully we’ll have the same weather pattern this winter as we had all summer. Lots of challenges this year as always but we always seem to find a way around the negatives with our plan B options. I know these are

Monthly Income Monthly Expense

$ 7,954.43 $ 41,299.79 $ -33,345.36 $ 85,600.00 $134,415.69 $ 95,889.63

Net Revenue

Short Term CD

Checking (8/31/23)

Dedicated Account (8/31/23)

Pay Pal (8/31/23) - Special Events Account (8/31/23) $ 4,987.53 Credit Line (8/31/23) $ - Building Fund (8/31/23) $ 54,029.73 Brian Wass Safety Fund (8/31/23) $ 1,285.50 MSA Scholarship Savings Account $ 1,182.38 MSA Scholarship CD Account $ 60,869.33 the gap in funding to the Clubs. Similar to wages over the years, the cost of living has risen at a sharper rate than wages have. The same formula holds true in regard to a Clubs overhead cost to produce a quality product on the snow, which has increased at a much faster rate than the funding they receive. This has put yet another burden on the same aging group of volunteers to bridge the gap between funding and real-time operating costs by holding creative fundraising events in order to make ends meet. I am excited to say however that there has been a very ambitious task force put in place to put together a legislative proposal to try and get more money in the hands of the Clubs. There is a lot of homework to be done, it will take time, and nothing is for certain, but just know that we have heard your voices and are doing everything that we can to drive this home to our Clubs. That is all for now from your Exec. V.P. and remember, my door is always open to anyone that wants to share a concern, is looking for advice or just wants to talk Snowmobiling! Call, text or E-mail me I would love to hear from you. Thank you, Mark. send it back, please find a way to ask them their preference. Also, please make sure you have their correct address. Each year we have papers returned because of incorrect and/or undeliverable addresses. If you have not received your packet yet, let us know. You can call or email the office or membership and we will track it down for you. Hope the season starts off well for all clubs! If you need anything let the office or myself know and we will hopefully answer your questions. Eileen $

From the Executive VP

Mark Chinnock, Vice President 207-754-9874 544 Plains Road, Poland, ME 04274 napadude66@hotmail.com

H ello Everyone! Typically, I would start out by saying that I hope everybody had a good Summer, and I’m sure that we all did in one fashion or another but can we just for one minute refer to this as the Summer that never was?! June ended with all but just a couple days that it didn’t rain followed by a July with excessive humidity and more rain, which continued on for much of August. The reason that I point this out is because if this weather pattern continues which the Farmer’s Almanac suggests, Look Out! We could be

From The Membership Corner

how to fill it out. There will be a blank one on the MSA website, most likely by the time you read this. Remember, MSA needs this or something similar included with the sold membership cards and money returned to the office as soon as you sell the membership. PLEASE LOOK CAREFULLY AT THE RENEWAL CARDS AS THERE IS A NEW ITEM ON IT . MSA is asking everyone how they want to receive their ME Snowmobiler paper. You have the option of, digital, print, or not at all. This question is very important to us, so please ask the member to answer it. If you do not send out the card and have them CLUB MEMBERS Once grooming begins submit your trail reports to: EDITOR@MESNOW.COM Please include your name and club affiliation

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

THE 2023-24 SEASON IS HERE!! M y how the summer has flown by. Many, many thanks to Liz in the office for organizing all the paperwork needed to go into the membership packets. Also, many, many thanks to Al and Larry for three

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