8528-R2_MSA_October2023

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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