8528-R2_MSA_October2023

An Official Publication of the Maine Snowmobile Association The Maine Snowmobiler

October 2023 • Vol. 55 • No. 2 MSA, PO Box 80 Augusta ME 04332 Find us on Facebook

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Looking to check out a new riding area?

Check out the Bowlin, Matagamon, Shin Pond Area!

W e are just 100 miles from Bangor so if you can only do a day trip, we are the perfect destination for just that! Unload your sleds in Patten or Shin Pond and hit the trails, our club grooms over 130 miles of trail. AlongThe Bowlin Matagamon Shin Pond Snowmobile Club trails you have Shin Pond Village, Mt. Chase Lodge, Wilderness Variety Store, Matagamon Camps and Shin Pond Pub all with great hospitality.There are several scenic views along this 50-mile loop. ITS 114 goes south to Whetstone Bridge, Club trail 64 connects to Patten, ITS 81/85 takes you to North to Aroostook County, Club Trail 71D will take you to Libby’s Camp “Gateway to the Ghost Trains” and this trip is only 110 miles roundtrip from Shin Pond. During your visit here you will find gorgeous scenic views, historic sites and great friendly lodges to welcome you. The area offers Polaris Snowmobile Rentals, guided snowmobile tours, various types of lodging, fine dining, and trailside restaurants/bar. Sled through Baxter State Park and the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Ice fish area lakes and ponds, XC Ski trails in the area, do a winter hike into Shin Brook Falls! We hope to see you this winter of 2024! Shin Pond Village 528-2900 shinpond.com Mt. Chase Lodge 528-2183 mtchaselodge.com Matagamon Camp s 446- 4635 matagamon.com Wilderness Variety Store 528-2626 Shin Pond Pub 528-2660

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Lexington Highlanders Snowmobile Club 1654 Long Falls Dam Road • LexingtonTwp, ME 04961 T he Lexington Highlanders Snowmobile Club is proud to announce, we are the grateful recipients of the PolarisT.R.A.I.L.S. Grant in the amount of $10,000. The Lexington Highlanders Snowmobile Club aka “The Little Club That Could” had bridge and trail damage during the spring storm and thankfully through the generosity of the PolarisT.R.A.I.L.S. Grant program, we are now able to rebuild damaged bridges and repair flooded trails. It is a credit to the sport of snowmobiling to have a company like Polaris invest in the trail system that we all enjoy. Polaris continues to be a giant in the sport of snowmobiling and will forever have our gratitude. We say “I think I can, I think I can but because of the Polaris T.R.A.I.L.S. Grant Program we can now say “We Know We Can!” THE PROGRAM The first of its kind in the off-road industry, the T.R.A.I.L.S. grant program was launched in January 2006 for off-road clubs, associations and grassroots groups. Riders and the trails they use are the lifeblood of the sport and Polaris Industries Inc. aimed to create a program to help. The T.R.A.I.L.S. program makes funds available to organizations in the United States to ensure the future of riding and getting outdoors. The grant program encompasses two main objectives - promoting safe and responsible riding and preserving access. Funds can be used by organizations for trail development and maintenance projects, safety and education initiatives, lobbying and other projects to increase and maintain land access. TIMETABLE Grant requests received at Polaris by March 1 and September 1 will be reviewed by the Polaris T.R.A.I.L.S. committee by the end of March and September respectively. Notifications will be made no later than 30 days after the end of the month of review. Grant funding is limited to a maximum of $10,000 per request. Organizations can apply for either monetary or products as long as it does not exceed $10,000 and may apply for two grants per year. All organizations must be 501(c)(3), 501(c)(7) government or non-profit organizations. If the grant is approved, a Results Report will be required as follow up to the project. In order to be considered for a new grant, ALL previous grant programs must be completed with a result/progress report. Also required is a trail file, either as a GPX or shapefile format, of your club’s trail system. Polaris Ride Command and the related map information is an intrinsic part of the Snowmobile, ATV and ORV programs at Polaris. Therefore any T.R.A.I.L.S. grants that will be used for development, maintenance or the purchase of equipment to be used for that pur pose, must submit a GPX or shapefile of that trail system to Chris.Gamache@Polaris.com before any grant funds will be made available.

Maine Lawyers proudly supporting the Maine Snowmobile Association

Free Case Evaluation • joebornstein.com

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Upcoming MSA Meetings - November 2023 Executive Committee meeting will be held onThursday, November 12 th at 6:30 pm via Zoom. Please watch your email for login information November Director’s Meeting will be held on Monday, November 16 th Hosted by the Anson North Anson SC. Social Hour will begin at 5, Dinner at 6 and meeting will follow.The meeting will be held at the Madison Legion Hall.

MSA Directors Pot O Gold MSA Directors Pot O Gold At the September Director’s Meeting The Oakland SnowGoers S.C. was drawn for the MSA Pot O Gold. A Club Director was not present.

> edwardjones.com | Member SIPC

We’re looking for newspaper articles. Topics of interest.... All things snowmobiling! Do you have a favorite ride that you’d like to share? Grooming or trail work tips. Product reviews. Stories of your adventures. Club events. A member who goes above and beyond. If possible, please send along pictures for your articles. This paper is created for Snowmobilers and you are the experts - we’d love to have your input! Please submit articles to editor@mesnow.com

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From The Executive Board

From the President

if not all Clubs are full steam ahead right now with pre-season Trail maintenance, Groomer maintenance, Landowner relations and various Club forms that are time sensitive and need to be submitted to the MSA and Dept. of A.C.F. and the preparation list goes on. All Clubs, please keep in mind that the deadline for Club and Municipal Grant applications is December 1st and it is fast approaching. Also the officer update forms for both the MSA and Dept. of A.C.F. need to be submitted as soon as possible as these are valuable tools for us to accurately communicate to our Clubs and are necessary for all Trail Grant considerations. The officer update form for the MSA can be found on our website or in your Clubs membership packet. The MSA has been extremely busy throughout the Summer and into the Fall implementing changes and improving on what is already in place. Many of these changes are not just in the MSA office but also on the MSA website as well as Facebook and other social media sites. Check us out if you haven’t, there are literally changes on almost every page! We have been all over the State attending Club events, monthly Director’s meetings and selling Super Raffle tickets. By the time this paper gets to the membership the MSA will have been to the N.H. Grass Drags and will have seen the 2023 Maine Snowmobile Show We have a few items going to the Legislature this year. James Cote our lobbyist is handling them. A law to have 16 year old and younger children take a safety course, People from out of State that have homes here pay a reduced snowmobile registration, there has been talk activities and support our phenomenal trail network. Funding proposals (for anything) are often met with resistance in Augusta, but MSA has such a compelling story to tell that I am anxious to begin this work in earnest, and move snowmobiling in Maine to a more pre dictable and prosperous future. Augusta is quiet this time of year, but soon the Legislature will be ramping up for its sec ond regular session, which will last from Jan uary to approximately June. There is no doubt that even in this shorter session that we will have plenty of issues to work on, and it will be critical to have your voices heard as we navi gate a number of policy issues. Looking forward, as the landscape contin ues to change, top of mind for me is thinking about the future of snowmobile and general recreational access for the future. Private land owners are an integral part of our successful network, and I think it is critical that we all start thinking more about how we work with the landowner community and policymakers to ensure a robust trail network, access, and positive landowner relations long into the future. I’ve begun to have some initial conver sations with stakeholders, and look forward to sinking more time into this subject. Thinking ahead will benefit us greatly. As always, I welcome your ideas and input as we head into the next session. Please feel free to write anytime at jcote@bernsteinshur.com. Enjoy the fall weather. Stay safe. And bring on the snow. Have a great fall! James Cote Ripley to Bridgton to Dexter. Had a great full house meeting put on by The Windham Snowmobile Club along with some hot discussion and hot Pat’s Pizza! Thanks to all who came. The Raffle is going very well; we ordered a few more tickets for the New Hampshire show along with ours at the end of the month. We have the three sleds and the Nitro trailer. The Alcom/Sno Pro is in production. The weatherman says a good winter for us. Let’s hope so. Looks like an El Nino year. The show is filling up looking like another successful event. A group will be heading to The New Hampshire Show bringing Maine clubs to the center of attention!

in Augusta come and go! We are now focusing our efforts toward the Super Raffle, which will be held on December 12 th . We have also been busy with a couple of snowmobile related bills at the State house, and are very fortunate to have hired Lobbyist James Cote to lead the charge on all of the legislative snowmobile related matters. A few more things to take note of are, on the membership cards please make sure that you as a Club or Individual check off the box that asks you if you would like your Maine Snowmobiler by Mail (paper copy) or E-mail ( Digitally). Also if you are a Club President or Trailmaster and have a Park & Ride in your town, we are compiling a list to publish on our website and social media at some point in the near future, please reach out to any one of the officers in this paper and we can help you with that. Lastly, it is that point in the season where I know we sound like a broken record but make it a point and reach out to each of your Landowners, shake their hand and thank them for allowing access on their property; a small thank you goes a long way and truly means everything to a Landowner. Well Folks, that is all for now and as always please reach out to me if you have questions, need help with an issue or just want to talk Snowmobiling. Thanks, Mark I hope to see lots of you at the show it’s a great time to get back in touch with one another after our off season. I appreciate every one of you! AL about raising our registration fee in 2025 which I do not recommend. Also, we’ve discussed registration lists from the State which they have and won’t give us unless we pay lots of money. This list would be used by the club’s to encourage them to join a club. Also, I’d like the MSA clubs to get grant money before non MSA clubs get any. With all the rain and wind this year we’ve had many wash outs and bridge disasters the volunteers have been working hard to get the areas repaired for riding, Unfortunately some won’t make it in time due to funding. I hope they do but it does not look good. Thanks for all you do! We will be having workshops Saturday morning during the show. We encourage club members to join us.

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 ell folks, September is history leaving us with great memories from the club’s getting out and having fundraisers throughout the State. From Ashland to Lexington to From the Executive VP

Monthly Income Monthly Expense

$ 42,940.58 $ 32,617.31 $ 10,323.27 $ 85,600.00 $153,172.63 $ 79,346.57

Net Revenue

Short Term CD

Checking (9/30/23)

Dedicated Account (9/30/23)

Pay Pal (9/30/23) - Special Events Account (9/30/23) $ 4,987.53 Credit Line (9/30/23) $ - Building Fund (9/30/23) $ 54,041.21 Brian Wass Safety Fund (9/30/23) $ 1,285.52 Scholarship Savings (9/30/23) $ 1,182.41 Scholarship CD (9/30/23) $ 60,944.42 $

From The Membership Corner

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

H ello Everyone! And just like that another month comes around. Yes, it is October already and anybody that has anything to do with Snowmobiling in Maine is out doing some sort of preparation work, whether it be Club related, MSA, municipal or just individual preparation, we all have work that needs to be done in anticipation of the White stuff falling. Starting at the club level, I don’t have to tell anyone reading this paper that most

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

I t is almost the end of September as this report is being written and many clubs have already begun to send in their memberships for this year keeping Liz in the office busy recording them. Liz and Eileen have answered a few questions already from clubs and people new to club membership procedures. If you have questions, you can email membership@mesnow.com or office@mesnow.com and we will do our best to get them answered in a timely manner. PLEASE REMEMBER- in order for your members to receive the ME Snowmobiler newspaper their membership card must be submitted to MSA. Also, in order for your business member to be listed in the upcoming paper it must be received in the office by the 20 th of the month before. Example -for Nov paper listing we need it by Oct 20 th . ***ALSO PLEASE NOTE ON RENEWAL CARD*** -On right side there is a check box regarding the paper. It is VERY important that you ask the member their preference and check the appropriate box. We have members tell us they do not want the paper or would like it digital and we are attempting to update our records to reflect their choice. Club membership people- PLEASE ASK THIS QUESTION. If a person is a member of multiple clubs just note that in the box as well and we will note it in our records as well. Membership totals as of 9/22/23 61 clubs have submitted memberships. Total memberships 853 with 715 family memberships and 138 business memberships Totals by region

Capitol Report

Hospitality Committee

James Cote MSA Lobbyist

Gail Ryan, MSA Hospitality 207-478-6821 207 Lancaster Brook Rd, Glenburn, ME skidoo6000@aol.com Hope you had a good September, and are getting ready for a cool October. I’ve sent a sympathy card to Don Murphy his mom passed, I sent sympathy card to Bob & Ardene Heistand, and a card to Lisa Gargan her husband passed. I sent a thinking of you card to Caleb McGary he has some health issues he’s deal ing with. And I sent a get well card to Ann Herrin she had hip surgery I hope you all are doing well and please know we are thinking of you. If anyone has a big birthday in sight, new baby coming, an anniversary, health issues, any event or reason to send a card please let me know so I can reach out with a card from the MSA. Gail Ryan H i everyone,

H ello MSA Members! As I sit at my desk this morning, I can’t help October is finally here and although I am writing this in 80 degree sunny weather, we all know that those days will quickly pass us by and hopefully the (big) snow will greet us shortly. October is a great month for MSA members to reach out to your local legislator. Legisla tors are back in their districts until January. If you meet them at your local coffee shop or see them in town, take the opportunity to educate them on issues of importance to the snowmo biling industry generally, and your local club specifically. Or even just introduce yourself, and let them know who you are and what club you belong to. As many of you may know, a group of MSA leaders is starting the process of putting together ideas to more adequately fund club

Central - 98 members Coastal -67 members Western- 59 members Eastern- 357 members Northern -263 members Keep sending those memberships in!

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From The Executive Board Secretary’s Report - Brad Barker 585 th Directors Meeting - Pat’s Pizza, Windham, Maine , September 19, 2023

Can we have more options? Can we have ALL the options sent around? Get the information to Matt Stedmen so that we can all get that information to us. Scholarship Committee: Barry Ryan - Looking for volunteers to man the booth at the show. Also Steve Bennett there is a fundraiser on October 12 th at the Red Barn for this. There will also be a display there to sell raffle tickets. Hospitality Gail Ryan: sent many cards and then told a joke Membership Report: Eileen Lafland: box on the right hand side, please ask your members about this!!! We are just trying to cut down on costs! If someone is a member of more than one club, you can mark that on the card. Get the membership cards back in as soon as you can. Super Raffle tickets MUST have a separate check. Al: American Income Life Insurance M/S/C To decline any association with them. Western Maine Rafting M/S/C To ?? New signs for IF&W Culverts will be bought at reduced rates and parked and distributed by Spruce Culvert Company in Windsor New club that would like to join us, in the West Forks-Dead River Area vote will be held once membership documents have been completed. Clubs were drawn for manning the Raffle Booth at the show. First shift Saturday - Glenburn 2 nd shift Saturday - Alna 3 rd shift Saturday - Rome Rough Riders Sunday 1 st shift Sunday - Ossipee 2 nd shift Sunday - 30 Mile River Steering committee - should members switch over? Stagger the leadership? Looking for input from membership. Motion to table and discuss next time M/S/C James Cote working on making the registration list available to clubs, and mandatory safety course for 16 and under. BRIDGTON CLUB surprise - MSA congratulation plaque for 50 years of service. 50/50 - Brad Porter $125. And returned $50. Pot of Gold - Oakland SnowGoers S.C. Meeting adjourned at 8:22 Respectfully submitted, Brad Barker to a consensus by about this time next year. We know that there is over a $3 million fund ing gap from last winters’ reported expenses and program income. (Grants paid out vs. volunteer hours + clubs’ submitted costs’) I know this isn’t close to the full gap because most folks do not include ALL the hours and expenses that go into running their club. We know where the current income stream to the State of Maine snowmobile program comes from and goes to. The 1 st step is to gather ideas to filter through to determine a path forward. We will need every one’s help to get ideas to our group to begin this process. Once we have ideas from our member ship, we will combine them with our own, group the ones that are similar, ensure we understand them & begin to sort them into categories. We will begin this at the show, having a “brown paper” exercise to gather ideas from members. There will be a large sheet of paper on the wall in the meeting room, post it notes and pens for folks to write ideas onto. Please include your name & club name so we can make sure to connect with you if we are unsure of the idea detail. In addition to this, the regional VP’s and directors will be soliciting ideas and concerns from clubs across the State. We will be bringing in more people to the com mittee on an as-needed basis so that we can con tinue to move forward. There are many aspects and intricacies to funding snowmobile clubs and our committee is dedicated to getting this done right. Please stay tuned & engaged with your club, regional MSA director &/or VP if you are pas sionate about making sure we can continue to fund the sport moving forward. what ways forward have chances at succeeding and then bring them to the membership to come

in the Maine Guide. Looking for New Blood - Destination spotlight - business, you want to spotlight, let them know to promote area, club, businesses, etc. Hoping to pick a region for each issue. Notices and deadlines, look for email blasts that go out to the Presidents. Check your Spam so that you get the notices. A lot of pertinent information in the last one and they are trying to increase communication and keep everyone in the loop. Grants - deadline on club and municipal grants have been bumped to December 1 st . Poland Spring - does anyone have a town with Poland Spring Bottling - Hollis? There is a program for non-profits, just fill out the form. Pretty easy. October 17 th directors at SAM in Augusta. Safety - Al Swett: use PPE when you’re doing trail work, safety shoes, ear plugs, Eye protection, etc. More safety posters from Brookfield are ready. They offered to buy them for us. BIW signs are a big hit. Hopefully we will be able to get more. Safety classes for schools are available. Al will come in and talk to the kids. Eastern Region Vice-President: Eileen Lafland - all the clubs in Eastern have their packets and memberships are coming in. Clubs are starting up. I think Downeast region will have some problems this year due to storm damage. Central Region Vice-President: Jack Lord - trail up from Oakland is fabulous. Last week I checked the trail from Norridgewock and we will be the first people to use that trail. It looks great! Hearing that everything from Norridgewock up will be connected, not sure of the lower part of the trail. Need a couple directors if anyone wants to step up. I would like to retire next year, I’ll be 80 and would like to train someone. Jack won first place at the North New Portland World’s Fair. Coastal Region Vice-President: Dave Watson - Thank you Windham, you did a great job. Thank you for setting this up Steve Bennett. Thank you for all that you members do. DO YOUR SNOW DANCES!! Northern Region Vice-President: Matt Stedmen - Thank you Lori and Bob for setting this up so everyone far away can listen in and be part of the meeting. Not a lot going on up ing for updating the actual overlay. Tracks are replotted and mileages recalculated. The approved overlay is also sent to Corson GIS Solutions for adaptation for our online inter active map. While this is going on, the text for the map backer is reviewed for club and busi ness edits and updated accordingly by MSA volunteers, in this year’s case it was Lori and Mark. Ditto for the front cover graphics and content around the perimeter of the actual map overlay. There are many emails and phone calls involved until everyone is in agreement on the content. At this point, all the data is sent to Franklin Printing, our longstanding vendor for the ITS map. Finally, the various pieces of the map are used to create a proof. This proof is reviewed, approved, and quantity verified. At last, the map printing goes into full pro duction. By the time you read this article, you will have the ability to hold the final product in your hands and start planning your rides. Until this year, I didn’t have an appreciation for the time, effort, and collaboration it takes to produce our annual ITS map. I do now. I hope you do too. So with map production covered, come get yours at the MSA’s Maine Snowmobile Show Oct 20, 21 & 22. I will be spearheading a trails workshop on Saturday Oct 21 at 9AM. We’ll discuss signage and trail issues, get infor mation on the grooming gear of Mountain Grooming Equipment from representative, Doug Wilson, and wrap up with grants and general snowmobile issues with Joe Higgins. The Trails Committee will have its October meeting immediately following at approxi mately 11:30 AM. Hope to see you all there. Brent

north besides watching it rain. People are out doing trail work and groomer maintenance. People are starting to get excited about it. Dust Bowl postponed from last weekend and will happen next weekend. At the show there will be a wall for people to put ideas on for how to get the clubs more money. We’ve had our first meeting on how to do this. Our next meeting will be at the show to collect these ideas on how to increase funding to clubs. Information will come down through the regional VP’s. Western Region Vice-President: Jerry Major: Not in attendance Trail Committee Chair: Brent Spalding - Waiting for the snow to come. Have good news, as of 3:30 today, the map is at the printer. Have ordered 27500 maps and it looks like everything is going good. Have brought on three new people since last meeting. Steering Committee Chairman: John Monk - What town has the most registered members in the state? Windham! These people are so loyal, they may not get snow but they go where there is some. He is representative on the abandoned and discontinued roads committee. Make friends with the landowners and the people that own the land that the old roads are on explain to them what we do. You may get permission from the town to use the road but if the landowner will have final say as to its use. LD 732 - if it’s documented there can be a ticket written, get your signs up early, the wardens are planning on making some examples early on. The sign HAS to be there in order for there to be fines. Now we can use trail cams to document the off trail riding. There are three retired wardens that have been called in to help Chris Mcabe on these trail and landowner issues. Clubs input are being asked for regarding the snowmobile Registration increase or not. It’s the end of the second biennial for legislation and now is the time to start so that we can get in the biennial. (from the members) Perhaps the set rate for registrations and non club members is the rate plus some amount. Or do we need to ask the legislature to give us a higher percentage of the registration money taken in. Please have the discussions in smaller groups.

Brad Barker, Secretary 207-524-3301 155 Fish Street, Leeds ME 04263 barkerbrad155@gmail.com

6:40 call to order Pledge of allegiance. Welcome new club directors

Directors and VP’s stand and new job descriptions and responsibilities list handed out. Secretary’s report M/S/C The treasurer’s report was read by Barry Ryan and placed on file at the office. President’s Opening Comments: Al Swett - landowner issue - it is all about the landowners, more important than the snow. There is a new job description for the regional V.P. and directors. Jack Lord - dropped the snowmobile club and atv trail is dropped from the lawsuit? Bingham trail is closed to us. Executive Vice-President: Mark Chinnock - want to thank the Windham Drifters. Got the show 20-22, Epping 6,7 and 8th, and the Big E in Springfield 18-19, all in October. A lot is coming up. Newspaper - options for the electronic version, share it with your clubs!! There is a selection box on your membership card. Park n Rides - database is being created and there is a short form available on the website so that your park n ride can be put on the website and

Trails Committee Chair Report

Funding Legislation Committee

Matt Stedman 207-557-1921 (call or text) PO Box 621, Ashland ME 04732 Stedman.matt@jdirving.com

Brent Spaulding, MSA Trails Chairman 207-944-7762 41 Madison Ave Brewer ME 04412 msatrailchair@gmail.com G reetings from Brewer, I’m sure you have all started your fall chores and are thinking about the upcoming season. The trails committee has been busy contacting clubs and sharing information. The new ITS map has been the main focus of my efforts since my last article. I have gained much knowledge from my interactions with and guidance from the MSA E board, Joe Higgins, and the vendors that support the map process. It starts with collecting informa tion on reroutes, closures, trail designations, or junction changes. Many of these changes require GPS data that is generally supplied by Joe Higgin’s office. These changes and GPS data are then passed on to SW Cole Engineer

Snowmobile Trail & Equipment Funding Into the Future F ellow snowmobilers, club members and business members. The MSA has put together a committee to determine legislation that needs to be brought in front of the 2025 ses sion to better finance our clubs trail maintenance & equipment funding. This will not be an easy or quick process. The committee is made up of the MSA pres ident, vice-president, regional VP’s and our lobbyist. We will be meeting at least monthly to share information, understand options and become informed on what direction the MSA membership wants us to go. Our goal is to understand the best path for w ard to close the funding gap. We need to get input from MSA members, information from the folks who know their clubs expenses and current income, work with our lobbyist to understand

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From The Executive Board

Often it is someone with a child approaching college age or someone that understands the value of getting a college education and how they can help in some small way. We have even had past scholarship recipients and their families come by and tell us how impactful it was for them to receive of one our $1,000 scholarships. Spending the weekend at this great event is always uplifting, our sport is full of generous, caring and supportive people and it can really be witnessed at The Show. By now, you have probably seen advertising for the fundraising event taking place at the Red Barn in Augusta. The owner of the Red Barn is donating all the proceeds from the ice cream sales on October 12th between 4-7 pm, special thanks to Laura and her crew, hope to see you there. The committee is always look ing for new and creative ways to raise money, the more money we have the more scholar ships we can provide. We would also like to appeal to clubs to think about making a dona tion to the scholarship. As clubs start to plan for the coming season maybe there is a way to think of the scholarship fund while you have some sort of special event or even during bud get season if the clubs has had a good year. I speak for all the scholarship committee members when I offer our willingness to help support any event or idea you might have and we are always looking for volunteers to help us. there building and fixing things. Ear protec tion a good pair of gloves and boots along with safety glasses will help keep you safe. I’m still waiting on word from a vendor to help pay for safety signs. Matt Stedman and I will be meeting with the IF&W folks soon to talk about snowmo bile safety and having a joint promotions and safety campaigns aimed at riders for all ages. This month will be a good month to have your sled looked over getting ready for the new season. It’s always good to have these preventative maintenance issues checked over before a problem happens on your trip. Have a look at your trailer also. Check the tires, axles, hubs (grease) any cracks in the aluminum. Make sure all your lights work. We would like to see a mandatory safety class for 16 year olds and younger. This has to go the State Legislative folks for a vote. Be safe on the trail and at home! AL F all is here!!! Cool temperatures are coming, leaves are changing, and hopefully snow will be falling in the higher elevations. We held the MSA directors meeting in September at Pat’s Pizza with a very good turnout. Thanks to Windham Drifters for hosting and Steve Bennett (Coastal region director) for coordinating it. As our season approaches there is a lot on the minds of MSA Directors, Landowner relations, Registration fees, are a couple of things to be thinking about. Sokis Riders & Gorham Sno Goers will be hosting Grass drags on Oct 14 th in Buxton Me. Check out the Facebook Page. MSA Snowmobile show October 20 th thru October 22nd at the Augusta civic center and of course the Super Raffle is up and running (Incredible prizes) get your tickets soon! If your club has an event coming up please reach out to me, I’ll try to put it in my next article. That’s all for now. Think SNOW!!! Dave Thanks for all you do. Scholarship Co-Chair Harvey Chesley

Scholarship Committee

Northern Region VP

sions. It will take many, many hands to com plete the necessary tasks before riding season can begin. I can not thank enough the volunteer work of Eastern Regional directors Gary Dowling, Craig Lemeiux, Barry Ryan, and Larry Lafland in getting Eastern Region club packets out to the clubs in late August and early September. Larry drove around multiple counties to get the packets where they needed to be. The work of these four along with assistance from John Monk is greatly appreciated by me. October also means the annual MSA Snow mobile Show is once again happening in Augusta. With vendors, workshops, raffle ticket sales, and exhibits from around the state and beyond, this show lets everyone in atten dance know what there is for snowmobilers to enjoy, see, and experience in Maine and beyond. There is a trails workshop on Satur day morning that is usually well attended and gives clubs a chance to hear about grants and other important information. Mark the dates on your calendars and in your phones and plan to attend. As November approaches, clubs are meet ing monthly in most cases and looking for members, renewing and new ones. There is also a snowmobile show in Massachusetts that MSA will have a display at this year. Super raffle tickets are still being sold to help clubs raise much needed funds. It is also time to reg ister those sleds you have so when the ground freezes and snow flies you will be ready to ride. Get your machines pre-season checked and then pray for cold, cold weather to freeze all this year’s rain and then snow, snow and more snow statewide to get the 2023-24 riding season going. Eileen If you have a question, problem, concern, or idea on snowmobiling in “The County”, get in touch with me. You can contact me at the phone # or email below. Matt Stedman maintenance, filling out grant forms and the list goes on, all just so folks can enjoy a great time on a snowmobile. Please reach out to support them with both your hours of volunteerism and memberships. If you are not quite sure how you may fit it in with the club, just be up front & ask. If your club has a need, please reach out to me or one of the Northern Region directors and we will help you in any way we can. We may not have all the answers but will work with you to help resolve your questions/concerns or needs. We are here to support you and your clubs. Our contact information is included in the paper. As a club, share your success and challenges with the surrounding clubs, feed off each other and what we can learn from or leverage from others will make the whole even better. This fall the MSA has a group working on how to get legislation prepared for fall of 2025 to better fund our clubs. We understand the funding gaps experienced by clubs statewide and are interested in your ideas. There is no one single answer and all ideas will be needed to make sure we get the right combination. See the article for more details. Reach out to me or the other members with your ideas and concerns so we can understand them better than we do today.

Matt Stedman 207-557-1921 (call or text) PO Box 621, Ashland ME 04732 Stedman.matt@jdirving.com

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

H ello Fellow Snowmobilers, It’s the 2 nd day of fall, and one of the best weeks forecasted coming up, sunny and dry. It seems like we haven’t had much of that over the summer. Here’s to a dry fall so we can all get what we need done before the snow flies. A sure sign that snowmobile season is coming at us at a rapid pace is the MSA snowmobile show on the horizon. A chance get together and visit, check out sleds, groomers, trailers, gear & accessories and attend workshops on grants put on by the MSA & State snowmobile program. I hope to see you there. Clubs have been hard at work all summer behind the scenes raising funds, securing trail permissions from landowners, doing machine

H i fellow snowmobilers, it is beginning to feel more like fall, morning temperatures are crisp and some areas are starting to see some foliage change. For most, fall signals the start of the season we all enjoy so much. Clubs begin to meet, trail work starts and events like the MSA Snowmobile Show are on our calendars. Speaking of The Show hope fully many of you are planning to attend and when you do be sure to stop by the booth where scholarship committee volunteers will be sell ing 50/50 raffle tickets. We have done this for many years and it’s always a pleasure to meet folks interesting in supporting our cause.

Safety Committee

Eastern Region VP

Eileen Lafland, 207-843-7813 PO Box 733, Holden ME 04429 L.andE.lafland525476@gmail.com W elcome to October everyone! We are one month closer to riding sea son with this month’s newspaper. There are many events you can attend to support snow mobile clubs across the state. Landowner sup pers, Open Houses, membership drives, first club meetings of the new season, and Super Raffle sales events to name a few. Clubs really need your support this year as the summer storms has caused much damage in some parts of the state on the snowmobile trails. As trails are being checked they are finding trees and limbs down, washouts, bridges that are no longer in place or are destroyed from high water and flooding, along with other obstacles that need to be fixed, repaired, or replaced. In many cases there are limited funds and man (or woman) power to do what is needed to make the trails safe for this upcoming season. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE if you hear or see of a club that is holding a work day give them a hand so they can get the work down. You can also contact a club or two and ask if they need help and then attend the work ses

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

G reetings!

Safety classes by the State have begun. Wear your safety protection when you’re out

Coastal Region VP

David Watson 207-205-1558 412 Roberts Ridge Rd East Waterboro ME 04030 dwatson6841@gmail.com

CLUB MEMBERS Once grooming begins submit your trail reports to: EDITOR@MESNOW.COM Please include your name and club affiliation

MSA CLUBS: TO ORDER NEEDED ITS & JCT SIGNS Contact Mike Grass Sr., MSA Trails Committee • 252 Condon Rd • Plymouth, ME 04969 207-368-4914 home • 207-745-2745 cell Grasslands252@gmail.com

TO ORDER CLUB TRAIL SIGNAGE Candice Pinkham, DACF/Snowmobile Program 207-287-4957 Office • 207-878-8111 Fax Candice.M.Pinkham@maine.gov

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From The Executive Board

us a chance to check out many multi use trails, (although I am not an inspector any more, or on the trails committee. but once an inspector always an inspector). There is a ton of washouts to be taken care of, the good news is that we notice ATV clubs and snowmobile clubs are working together more and more, and that is a GREAT thing, we have witnessed a lot of ditching, what a blessing in helping to keep trails secure and safe. There are 62 clubs in the western region, so far I have only made contact with about 25% of them, sadly keep hearing the same old song, we need more help maintaining trails and how do we get new YOUNGER members. I wish I knew the answers, over the years I have written many letters to all that have registered sleds in town with very poor results, so if anyone has a magic wand and an answer, let the rest of us know. In the meantime, we volunteers will keep these magical trails going for all the FREE LOADERS. Keep the faith folks and remember - UNITED WE TRAIL - DIVIDED WE FAIL. Jerry a number on some of our trails and bridges. Because of this, our trailmaster, Chad Wright, will be wanting as many people as possible to help get the trails ready for snow. As the say ing goes, “Many hands make light work”. Our September meeting was our annual membership night. We had some yummy food, great information shared by various members and several new faces that have decided to join our club. Thank you to those that invited potential new members and to those that joined, WELCOME! Watch your email and our club facebook page (Monmouth Cochnewagan Trailblazers) for up to date information. Yours truly, Roberta Kemp V.P. and Membership Chairperson Hello I am our clubs new reporter. I hope to do as well as our former reporter Lori Nunes. As I write this, our Chicken BBQ has come and gone till Memorial Day 2024. Thank you to MSA for coming and setting up a display of sleds and trailer to help sell tickets for MSA raffle. I want to address trail work for our club. We need your help. Just like all clubs this year we are dealing with lots of water and blow downs. We also need help with signage especially on our trail, which is now ITS Connector trail 115 from Kingfield ME thru Lexington Town ship, to Dear River and Stratton and Eustis, ME. If you can help please contact our Trail Master Peanut Wilson @ 207-628-3070. Our clubhouse will be open during snow season weekends and we will have non ethanol gas for sale. Happy Fall, see you at the Snow Show in Augusta. Cathy Horne WESTERN REGION Hello MSA Members, After a very wet summer, we are looking foOn September 8th, twenty-eight members of the Bridgton Easy Riders gathered for the first meeting of the season, and to enjoy the Fabulous Pot Luck Supper—and what a deli cious meal it was! President Blaine Chapman called the busi ness meeting to order at 6:45PM with a Pledge of Allegiance. Blaine talked about the new 501C3 Tax Sta tus the Club now enjoys. He heaped praise on LEXINGTON HIGHLANDERS sc Lexington Twp, ME BRIDGTON EASY RIDERS sc Bridgton, ME Bridgtoneasyriders.com See us on Facebook

lack of a trail in and out of town. We do have 87 routed around the town. We saw one of our small restaurants go out of business last year. They relied on snowmobilers during the winter months, when the trail closed there was no excess to town. We have approached our representative and was told he could not get involved. We haven’t heard if or when the state will help. We know we are one of the small towns of Maine, but then the small towns and their clubs are the ones that maintain and make sure all the people that come here for the sport and supplies the state that nice income every year. The people that we have asked for help can’t say that they don’t know how important this sport is to the state. They visit the Snowmobile Show and let us know what district they represent and ask for our support. One of our Reps. In office right now is a relative of one of the Past Presidents of the MSA. This problem needs to be fixed. This is all I have to say, so I’m signing off. KEEP SMILING ☺ Be safe getting everything done for the season. Jack Lord

Central Region VP

Western Region VP

Jack Lord Home: (207) 672-3915 / Cell: 207-717-7131 17 Dinsmore St. Bingham, ME. 04920 Email: jacklord5256@gmail.com H i All, Here we go.. The Pre-season Rush, trail work so much to do. Work will be hard this year. No clarity on where our trails will go here in Bingham. No resolution yet to the Heather Harding for her tremendous efforts to bring this project to its conclusion. Way to go Heather! Blaine talked extensively about the damage to our trails and bridges caused by the extreme rain we received this summer. The first work crew of the season, consisting of 9 Volunteers, replaced one bridge in Knights Hill that was moved by the heavy rains, and is now cabled in place. The Rogers Brook bridge on ITS 89 had to be completely torn apart to allow removal of all the debris under it. All damaged planks on the bridge were replaced and new runners were nailed in place. It was then repositioned. Originally, many years ago, this is the bridge had been put in with an old trailer bed and later it was widened with 4 x 6s. Our next proj ect will be a bridge that the rains have moved about 75 feet downstream. We are hoping we can lift it and the set it in place. A different bridge, in South Bridgton was pushed by the water about 100’ and is now laying in the woods. Work Crews will continue to meet on Sun days at The Bridgton Walgreens at 8AM, and usually end about Noon. When you get a chance, be sure to thank the volunteers who work so hard on our trails - they make snow mobiling possible! Volunteers from The Bridgton Easy Rid ers will be selling Super Raffle Tickets at the Lakes Region Brewfest on September 30th from 10:30—Noon. MSA will be there, too, displaying several sleds and trailers. Bill Preis reported that work on the 2024 Trail Map is underway, and it will be available in December. Please check your snowmobile photos and send them to Bill for consideration on the front of the 2024 Trail Map. Steve Emery reported that the Club trips for 2024 have been finalized. The first trip will be Millinocket in February, followed by Caribou in March. Steve will be sending out Trip Itin erary Packages to Club members who sign up. The next meeting of Bridgton Easy Riders is scheduled for Friday, October 13th, fol lowed by the November 10th meeting, at The Bridgton Community Center on Depot Street. The Fabulous Pot Luck Supper begins at 6PM followed by the business meeting at 6:45. Come learn about our upcoming Club events: the Christmas Holiday Party, Club Rally, and Club Trips. All are welcome! Hope to see you there, Hope to see you there, Bill Preis BER Club Correspondent 207-647-2847 To See dozens of photos and videos—go to: https://www.facebook.com/bridgtoneasyridersclub/

Jerry Major, Cell: 207-838-0892 137 Morrill Rd, Norway ME 04268 mrfun101jem@gmail.com

H i folks,

My how time flies when you’re having fun.. we ride our side by side a lot, this gives

MSA Club News

PERKINS RIDGE SNO-TRAVELERS Auburn, ME

Deadlines for club news is the 25 th of the month prior to the publications. Please submit articles to editor@mesnow.com

Hello Sledders, Welcome to October in Maine. Seems like summer was hot and wet and now leaves are falling. Now it’s time to get trails brushed, signed and bridges rebuilt before the snow. Again, as always, we really do need more volunteers to help. If you don’t have time to spare donations are very much appreciated.

NORTHERN REGION

BENEDICTA SNOW GANG sc Benedicta, ME

Happy Trails Grant Carson

Hi Gang, Well, here it is the 23 rd of September and we just got through hurricane Lee, who dumped another big bunch of rain and a lot of big wind on us. I haven’t heard any trail damage reports, but I assume we have a whole bunch of trees down again. Luckily, we have some time to get everything taken care of before a snow gets here. One thing that does concern me is the fact that we have had an overabundance of rain. All the swamps are full, which will make it nearly impossible to freeze them down when the time comes. In my 74 years, I can’t ever remember a Summer as wet as this. If we get as much snow as the rain, we have had we will be grooming into May of next year, lol!! The moose season starts on Monday and everyone in Benedicta has a permit ~~~ should be a hoot!!! I haven’t heard how the potato harvest is going, hope they can get them out ok. Don’t really have a lot of club stuff to report at this time as we are kind of “in between” every thing. I am pretty sure that the groomers are back together with new tracks and the TS110 has new brakes. Remember that our Caribbean Cruise raffle is in full swing, let me know if you want one. I guess that will do it for now, more to come -- stay tuned!! Jim Splan, Reporter @ Large P.S ~~ Way to go Redsox!! P.SS ~~ Way to go Patriots!! P.SSS ~~ New website coming shortly!! P.SSSS ~~ Way to go Marty Oxley!! CENTRAL REGION Good day Trailblazers! I hope this note finds you well. The weather lately has been sooo nice. It has given us a chance to be outside enjoying it or getting proj ects worked on. As a snowmobile/ATV club we have been on a few ATV rides lately with one or two more planned before we switch to snowmobiling mode. I know some members have started working on our trails and much more is needed. The excessive rain has done COCHNEWAGAN TRAILBLAZERS Monmouth, ME

NORWAY TRACKERS Norway, ME Find us on Facebook

norwaytrackerssnowmobileclub@gmail.com Our season is starting and we are getting in the full swing of things. Our first meet ing was very well attended and trail work is underway Sunday mornings. We have a lot on the docket including bridge work and cul verts and reworking more of our trail signs. Some of our trails have taken a hard hit with all the rain we’ve had this year. We had a lot of flood issues last season as well that we will be addressing to alleviate for this season. One of our members has graciously donated an ice auger to our club to be raffled off with the proceeds going directly to our club. We will have more information and tickets soon. We are also selling super raffle tickets. We are working on GPS for our trails and updating our maps. Our three Tuckers and VK sled are ready for action, but we have some maintenance and updates planned for our drags. Thank you to everyone who has joined our club and those that have tried our new digital process. It is a learning curve but hopefully it is found to be quicker and easier for our members. We will be keeping our members informed via email of our meeting minutes and club updates As always, everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend our meetings and trail maintenance sessions. Getting ready Dan Trouant, Club reporter FRYEBURG AREA SNOWMOBILE Hello everyone, I’d like to start this letter by saying thank you to all of you that volunteered in our fair booth this year and to everyone who came out and bought tickets and/or made donations to the club. We were happy to have the newest piece of equipment on display alongside the raffle prizes and are excited to get out there and put our new groomer to work! ASSOCIATION Fryeburg, ME

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