8555-R2_MSA_November2023_Newsletter

From The Executive Board

We’ve lost many folks while riding on thin ice avoid it whenever you can. Go around on land instead of taking a shortcut over ice. I lost a work buddy after he thought the ice was strong enough on the Kennebec River. He too was taking a shortcut home. Our Maine weather changes quickly be pre pared and wear the right clothing, layering is the new greatest thing, good helmets, gloves, boots, waterproof outer shell wear. Never ride alone always ride with a buddy. At night slow down and watch for wildlife, don’t overdrive your headlight. If your new or haven’t ridden for a while and you have a newer sled, be careful these new snowmobiles are super quick and ride smooth. The new sleds have lots of gadgets and buttons pay attention to riding not play ing with the new electronics. I had another friend who I describe as an elite rider who was adjusting his instruments and struck an object resulting in serious injury. Prepare for emergency’s carry a survival and first aid kit. Make sure your sled is in tiptop shape we have lots of miles of trails. Sometimes we go further than we intend too, bring along some food granola bars, candy, and water. Yeah, I know it will freeze but we can always warm it over a fire! Your sled can be maintained by many certi fied dealers throughout the state we have top notch folks that make your machines run like new. It’s November folks we’re getting close be patient. Look for a safety course date in this newspaper, website, or IF&W’s website. Please be safe out there on the trail and at your home, cold weather is here make sure your wood stoves and furnaces and heating sources are up to date, along with smoke and CO2 alarms, fire extinguishers should be close by too. Ride Safe! AL W ell, Farmer’s Almanac says we’re going to get some snow this year, it seems to be confirmed by other weather predictions. So all we need to do is Join a club (or clubs) and register your sleds. Invite friends to get involved. And....... start doing your SNOW DANCE!!! MSA super raffle is in full swing. Have you bought your tickets? Great prizes.... Soon all clubs will be getting an email blast regarding “Snowmobile Funding”. We are looking for your input on how we should move forward to getting funding for our trails? I look forward to hearing from all of you with ideas. Please reach out to me via email, text, or call me. All my info is listed in this paper. And of course discuss this at your club meetings. Thank you for all your dedication to our sport. Enjoy our riding season Ride safe, Ride Right. Dave one this month from the new committee regarding funding and legislation. We NEED your input on this to help close the funding gap. Public suppers and raffles, etc. only get a small portion of the job done, so give us your ideas please. We had a great show, a very well attended trails workshop and, many various other meetings since your last paper, believe me there are a lot of dedicated folks in the MSA that keep our sport alive and well. Mother Nature has turned the corner. We saw a 35-degree swing in temperature last week, now if she will give us just half as much snow this winter as we got rain this summer, we will have a great season. I think we need Brian Wiley to come back and lead the snow dance again, we haven’t seen that for 30 or 40 years. I have also sent an email blast to the Western region clubs, please let me know when and where you meet, I would like to meet and greet as many as possible. Not much else to report, the clubs with their limited help is doing a tremendous job getting OUR trails ready, can’t thank them enough. So until we meet again, remember UNITED WE TRAIL, DIVIDED WE FAIL. Regards and GOD BLESS, Jerry Major

Safety Committee

Northern Region VP

a club or two or three, PLEASE, PLEASE contact them and see what you can do. We all want to ride safe trails when the snow comes and helping to get them ready is part of the process. Landowner suppers have been held in the past two months at different clubs. It is won derful to see and meet the people who allow us to use their land for our trails. Without them, we might be riding in circles around our own homes! Please continue to show them respect and thank them every chance you get. The MSA Snowmobile Show will have come and gone by the time you read this. Again, this show gives MSA, dealers, ven dors, businesses, clubs, regions, and many others a chance to get people ready to ride. It was wonderful to see so many people attend and to talk snowmobiling with them. Some attendees we see each year, and others are first timers, which just proves Maine snowmobil ing is welcomed and enjoyed by all who ride here. Great job Eastern Region clubs in getting your memberships in to the office. It does seem like members are renewing at a good pace across the state, so now we need the weather to cooperate. Keep sending them in along with any new members you get so they all get their monthly paper. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! The Feb ruary MSA directors meeting will be held at the East Branch Sno-Rovers club in Med way on Saturday Feb. 17th. The Sno Rovers always provide a great meal when we go there. Weather permitting and if snow conditions are right, we will have a showcase ride from their club that morning. Route, destination, and other details to follow in the coming months. Until next month, Ask Santa for cold, cold temps followed by snow and that it lasts until April!! 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. I look forward to meeting as many folks who help make snowmobiling in the Northern Region possible, you are a hard working crew and should be proud of the jobs you do. Matt Stedman visit all landowners need to be asked for the privilege of using their property. Take the time to explain specifically what the club is asking for, and how the trails help snowmobilers connect to other areas in our region and state with this trail system. Another item of interest for the landowner may also be the economic impact the use of their land is to your town or region. These trails help businesses keep local folks employed! I thank you for the efforts put forth to keep finding connections, helping landowners understand the liability law, and educating people on what it is that we do. The MSA trails committee will be putting on a signage workshop December 3 rd @ 11 AM in Madawaska at their club house. The March MSA directors meeting and regional showcase ride will be hosted by the Easton Trailbreakers club in Easton Maine on Saturday March 16 th 2024. Make a reservation early and stay tuned for more details. The MSA had a great meeting with the Maine Warden Service this summer and let’s work with them to make 2024 a safe year to ride. I would like to see County clubs take the lead on trail safety. If your club would like to do a trail side safety check please reach out to a local warden or me to set it up, these are great ways to spread the message of snowmobiling safely to the community. Let’s get some set up for the winter and have a good time engaging with riders on the trail.

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

Alan Swett, 207-872-7282 234 County Rd, Waterville ME 04901 snowtraveler@roadrunner.com H ello Snowmobilers! Top priority this year: “BE SAFE OUT THERE” Yes, we can do it. Zero deaths are our goal. The IF&W team are hosting snowmobile safety courses all over the region. I helped on one at the MSA show. We had a great turnout with lots of questions and excitement for the new season. If one comes to your area, please sign-up operators, young and old it contains lots of knowledge and common sense to help you ride safer. Last year we had many accidents and ten deaths. Some could have been prevented. It’s never too late to attend a safety course it’s a good time to refresh your mind with logical snowmobile safety ways. Please be sure to check over your trailers, look for breaks in the framework, change your tires if they’re weather cracked, how about the lug nights and wheel bearings. Do you have a spare and is it full of air? Do all the lights work? Any breaks within the door or loading ramp? Check these items over before bad things happen. Don’t drink alcohol or take drugs before or during your snowmobile trip.

J ust home from the MSA snowmobile show, another great event! Packed full of vendors, dealers, destination information & some informative meetings. If you have never been, make sure you mark your calendar for next October. Thank you to the folks who came out and/or helped make this great show happen. An extra thank you to President Al Swett & Liz Mahaleris! Northern region clubs have been hard at it getting ramped up to be ready when mother nature gives us the white stuff to make that a reality. They have been planning and working on re-routes, rebuilding bridges, meeting new landowners, preparing and installing signage and MANY more things that need to be done before we can ride. Please reach out & give these hard working individuals your support, ask how you can help, follow their club schedules and get to an event to support them during the season. Please reach out & meet with the landowners on your system, there are many new faces in many of our towns and there may have been changes to ownership. Whether it be a phone call, text, email, or a drop in

Eastern Region VP

Coastal Region VP

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

Eileen Lafland, 207-843-7813 PO Box 733, Holden ME 04429 L.andE.lafland525476@gmail.com H Well, we are one-step closer to riding season when we hit this month. Some places may already have received some snow by the time you read this, but unless the ground has frozen completely it isn’t good riding yet. With all the rain this past summer and early fall there is sure to be many, many waterholes this year and we need a great hard freeze to make these safe. Clubs around the state have been doing what they can on the trails to get rid of or cover these holes but there will still be some. Please be careful and watch out for them. An overall plea I have heard from Eastern region clubs and I am sure other clubs around the state is, “We need help!! We need young people to step up!” With the average age of the club trail workers increasing, it is getting more difficult to get people to come clear the trails and make them ready for snow! Finding people to help groom doesn’t seem to be as big an issue as finding boots on the ground people, to walk the trails, cut brush, repair bridges, and everything else that must happen before snow falls. If you can donate a few hours to help appy Thanksgiving to all and your families.

Western Region VP

Jerry Major, Cell: 207-838-0892 137 Morrill Rd, Norway ME 04268 mrfun101jem@gmail.com O K. Who said snowmobiling is important to all of us, I for one agreed. It’s on my mind so much that tonight I couldn’t sleep, so I am putting a few thoughts together at 3am.. First off I want to remind all the presidents and secretaries that most correspondence doesn’t come to you by snail mail anymore, so be sure and report to YOUR clubs about the various e-mails you receive. You should have received

7

w m

n o

o b

0 2 3 l M a i n e S

i l

e r

N

m b e r 2

o v

e