8576-R1_MSA_December2023_Newsletter

From The Executive Board

G reetings & Happy Holidays to all! Well the early snowfall has a lot of people excited about a great season. Let’s Hope Mother nature keeps it going, Super raffle was a huge success, congrats to all the winners.. There has been a E Blast to all club presidents to discuss how we can raise money to overcome shortages of how much money clubs receive from club grants, municipal grants and the actual money they spend each year. It is my hope that we will get a lot of feedback from all of you. Please reach out to any of the Regional VP’s or there is a form on our website you can use. I wish all of you a fantastic holiday season and a great winter riding. Ride right, Ride Safe Dave In the meantime all of your officers are diligently working to stay on top of things, however we need your help. The funding committee is needing YOUR ideas on a way to close the funding gap, we showed a 3 million dollar gap last year. One way would be for everyone to report every hour worked, all equipment used and every dollar spent, we are sure the gap is more than 3 million dollars and to go get legislation to close that gap, we need YOU to report every penny. Thanks in advance for your help on this. We sent out an email alert to all the western region clubs asking for time, date and place of your meetings, only 2 responded, please reach out to me with this info, it would be much appreciated. Until next time, keep praying for SNOW, register those sleds and enjoy the winter. GOD BLESS Jerry was great to get together and catch up. I keep preaching safety but in my defense having seen two fatality on the trails since I started riding, I just never want to witness anymore. They are our trails and as such it is our responsibility to do all we can as far as maintenance, signage and make sure they are as safe as we can make them. I hope everyone is ready to have a great winter. I am getting ready, doing my snow dances, praying for big snow. If anyone in the in the Central Region would like to step up and take over my job as Central Region V.P. I have been at this for 18 years and it’s time for me to step down and let someone with new ideas and a new outlook take over, Someone younger, please think about this and come talk to me. As always be safe out there working on trails and riding. Keep Smiling and if you need me feel free to call me. Barb says if you are in the Bingham area stop by for coffee. Jack don’t care, Perhaps some day they will have an awakening and join our clubs and help physically and financially.

Coastal Region VP

Northern Region VP

suppers, and raffle sales. I want to thank EVERYONE that has donated time, effort, money, materials, and anything to snowmo bile clubs across the state to help them make these repairs. It really does take everyone to get the jobs done! In mid-November there was a regional meeting held in East Machias. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to Gary Dow ling, the Downeast Trail Riders, Joe Higgins, Brent Spaulding, and Bill Kitchen for helping to set it up and being guest speakers. A very large THANK YOU goes to Larry Lafland for driving us down there, for making sure all clubs had maps, and for taking pictures of the meeting along with everything else he did. More THANK YOU’S go to all the clubs that came and participated. It was great to see everyone and to talk snowmobiling with all. Thank you also to the people that attended from Machias. They are in the process of revi talizing the club there, which is a wonderful thing. A message to Eastern region clubs- You always make me proud when I see how many memberships you submit and the Eastern Region clubs that are near the top in total mem berships across the state. Your hard work does not go unnoticed by me so again, Thank You. It is my hope to set up at least one and may be two more regional meetings. Watch your emails and regular mailboxes for invitations to these. It is your chance to meet with MSA representatives and trail committee people to ask questions and share your thoughts. Until January. If you are riding, please be safe! See you in 2024! Eileen Finally, as we get to the beginning of the riding season, I would ask (beg) clubs to plan a trail side safety check in co-ordination with the Maine Warden Service. It’s a great way to interact with riders and promote safety on the trails. Find a good intersection or location with plenty of visibility and room along the trails, set up for a few hours on a weekend day and help us all improve rider safety and maybe prevent an accident this winter. “Ride safe today, Ride again tomorrow” is not just a great logo for a sticker or shirt, it’s a goal of the MSA and we should strive to show this message to the riders from the local club level on our trails. Reach out to your regional VP to discuss and plan an event like this. 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 signs as the trail may not be exactly where it was last season, how it shows on your paper map or digital screen. Club members know best and on the ground signage trumps all other means. It is great to see collaboration between clubs and areas within Aroostook County work together towards a common goal. Check out club websites, MSA newspapers & Facebook pages to see what’s going on so you can plan a trip up and get in on the excitement. There is a lot happening over the course of 12-16 weeks of winter for our clubs. The Northern Region Showcase ride this winter will be Saturday March 16 th hosted by the Easton club. These regional rides are a great way to explore a new area and meet people who you may only have connected with by phone or social media. We will have a ride during the day & MSA Directors meeting in the evening.

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

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

H appy December fellow snowmobilers, It’s almost Thanksgiving and we have snow on the ground in the County! It’s been white a few times and we have a decent cold forecast in the 10-day. Hopefully we can get some frost in before much more white stuff comes. Signs are going up, bridges have been re decked and made ready, new culverts installed, re-routes determined, cut & constructed. It has been great to see folks from all over New England travel to help clubs this fall. Dedicated riders, TRUE snowmobilers. Clubs are still posting on clubhouse signs and social media for workdays so please make time in your busy schedule to help physically or financially. You will see some changes, as always, in the trail footprints in Northern Maine this season. Landownership changes, plans for timber management activities and new development happen all over and all the time. A big THANK YOU to the new landowners and club volunteers for making re-routes & connections happen to keep our communities & businesses connected to the trails. Watch for

Western Region VP

Jerry Major, Cell: 207-838-0892 137 Morrill Rd, Norway ME 04268

mrfun101jem@gmail.com H ello my friends, Good or bad, it is still kind of slow for news. The good news is that the crews are doing a tremendous job getting trails ready. the bad news is the freeloaders really

Eastern Region VP

Central Region VP

Jack Lord Home: (207) 672-3915 / Cell: 207-717-7131 17 Dinsmore St. Bingham, ME. 04920 Email: jacklord5256@gmail.com

Eileen Lafland, 207-843-7813 PO Box 733, Holden ME 04429 L.andE.lafland525476@gmail.com W knocking on the door. By the time you read this it will be close to if not already the holidays. Larry and I wish you all the best of holidays and hope that 2024 brings cold, cold weather and great amounts of snow for months! As 2023 was winding down through November and in to December clubs were still working hard to repair all the damage done by the great amounts of rain we have had this year. There were many, many bridges that either moved, broke up or washed away. With all the bridge work and washouts, clubs have had to spend many hours and large amounts of money on these projects. It is getting harder and harder for clubs to afford doing all these repairs by raising funds from memberships, ow! This year has gone by fast, hasn’t it? 2023 is almost in the books and 2024 is

H i Everyone,

I hope everyone had a great time with friends and family this Thanksgiving. Barb and I had a great time with new friends and some we haven’t got to spend time with in a while, it

MSA MEMBERS CHANGE OF ADDRESS Let us know when your USPS mailing address has changed - so you won’t miss an issue of the Maine Snowmobiler Members Name: ________________________________________ Old Mailing Address: ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ NEW MAILING ADDRESS: ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Mail to: Maine Snowmobile Association, PO Box 80, Augusta, ME 04332 fax: 207-622-7669 or e-mail info to: editor@mesnow.com

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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