8620-R1_MSA_February2024_Newsletter_Web

From The Executive Board

From the President

H ello everyone, And just like that it’s February and we’re in the heart of the Winter! I hope you all have had a chance to get out and engage in a little throttle therapy and enjoy some of the fruits of your labor; after all, we work so hard all year to put out the best product that we possibly can and at some point we need to enjoy some of what we have created. Well to say Mother Nature has kept things interesting for most of 2023 is an understatement. I am amazed every day at how Clubs have pulled together and the amount of volunteerism that I have witnessed after the several natural disasters that we’ve seen this year alone. Not only have we seen the core group of volunteers in each club get back up and brush themselves off after each time their trails were devastated and rebuild. But individuals from outside the club doors have stepped in to help, as well as local contractors and businesses have donated time, equipment and money, not knowing if and when they January 2 nd Jack lord and I were invited to a regional Snowmobile meeting put on by the Clinton club. We had several clubs from the Central Region along with pizza for supper. We talked about many topics including committee to determine legislation that needs to be brought in front of the 2025 session to better finance our clubs trail maintenance & equipment funding. In early January we had a very pro ductive call with Governor Mills and IFW Commissioner Camuso. While nothing was decided upon, they now have a clear understanding of our financial concerns & plans looking for funding in the short, medium & long term. Our lobbyist has been working dil igently gathering information and talking to folks in Augusta, reminding them of how much financial gain our clubs bring to the State and our financial concerns. He has kept us up to date on issues that we need to know and asked for guidance for communications. The committee has had 4 virtual meetings and 1 in person meeting since beginning. An e-mail blast has been sent out to clubs asking for ideas. A HUGE THANK YOU TO LORI HEMMERDINGER for creating an online membership form on the MSA website. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out. You can join as many clubs as you choose from the comfort of your house. The site has been extremely popular and is keeping Liz in the office busy. Note to MSA clubs- With this new online membership, when a person signs up, at the present time MSA may be issuing your club a credit for the amount . You can use this credit the next time you send in memberships by just sending a copy of the letter back with your transmittal form and deducting the amount off what your total is. However, once a club accumulates a credit over $60.00 a check will be issued and mailed to the club’s address on file. Any questions, please contact tucked away in a picture-perfect community in western Maine. The club folks are awesome, and boy is their food great! Homemade turkey pie with all the fixins. Thank you for a wonderful time. Our, electronics team did a fine job with some new gadgets making it easy to communicate via zoom. Thanks for making it happen, you did a great job. Off to business, we met in Strong to discuss business associated with all the storm damage. Many clubs large and small and political Senators and Commissioner’s from the Western Region showed up. It was a well organized meeting. Many topics were brought up. Along with non-storm damage such as snowmobile funding in which we are working on now. Hopefully, the Legislature will give us a helping hand with funding. I feel we have the correct team working on this.

would be compensated for their generosity. We have also seen neighboring clubs helping other clubs with materials, labor and working together to try to connect all the dots and create a fluid trail system for all sledders to ride on. As well as to maintain the cash flow that is so needed, and in many small communities in Maine, snowmobiling is an industry and it is what keeps their economy moving. Thank you to all who have helped, snowmobiling would NOT have happened this season if it were not for everyone mentioned. The MSA along with our lobbyist and our legislative funding committee have been hard at work behind the scenes meeting with the governor and members of our State and County governments to come up with a solution for funding, both long term and short term. We have done our very best at making sure that your voices are being heard. There is a dire need to get more money back into the hands of our clubs in order to insure the future Snowmobiling in Maine is destination hot spot for people from all over the Country and Canada, we have the best trail system made possible from MSA clubs like you. Even after the devastation we have had, we’ve bounced back. Clubs have had to do reroutes, replace some bridges and have done a lot of tree work. All possible from the best group of volunteers, supporting businesses, and of course the landowners. Without your passion and support, we would be out of business. A big thank you to you all! Hope you have a great season, AL We need all your help to get ideas from folks who are in the trenches working everyday to keep the clubs going. We have gathered information from neighboring provinces & states. We have received information from Joe Higgins at the Snowmobile Pro gram office on past years reported club expenses, grant payouts & reg istration numbers. We are sifting through the data to make sure we completely understand it will take some time. There is a lot of data to work though & understand but it will be crucial to tell our story to the folks in the Governors office and legisla tive committees. We also have commitment from the University of Maine to refresh the eco nomic impact study that was released in February 2020. This is another cru cial piece of the puzzle that will help us move forward. If you have questions, concerns or either membership@mesnow.com or office@ mesnow.com and we will explain it to you. Please acknowledge the new members(s) you receive this way as they chose your club for a reason. Totals as of Jan.22, 2024 We have 243 of the 285 clubs that have submitted memberships. That means 42 clubs have not sent in any memberships yet. The regional VP’s have a list of clubs in their areas and will be contacting them. Of those, 13 clubs have memberships over 100. In alphabetical order they are: Blue Ridge Riders, Border Riders, Caribou, Fort Kent, Fryeburg, Madawaska, Moosehead Riders, Northern Timber Cruisers, Penobscot SC, Pleasant Mtn ( Bridgeton), Portage Lakers, financial grants, signage, landowners. The Clinton club has a very nice clubhouse and are having an open house coming up on February 10th it’s a Saturday. Also, The Pine Tree Camp annual Egg Ride is February 3 rd at Dysarts in Hermon. If you’re into checking out the new Groomer’s head over to The East Branch Sno Rover’s Clubhouse on February 3rd there will be demonstrations with the groomer and drags. The club will also have some great food available.

Lori Hemmerdinger (207) 890-5455 544 Plains Road • Poland, ME 04274 Treasurer@mesnow.com Treasurer’s Report Respectfully Submitted, Lori Hemmerdinger, Treasurer

W ell, January was quite a month. We had a great Directors meeting in Norway! A meeting we drove to in a snowstorm. What an adventure and well worth every mile. The Norway club is an awesome club quietly From the Executive VP Alan Swett, 207-872-7282 234 County Rd, Waterville ME 04901 snowtraveler@roadrunner.com

Monthly Income Monthly Expense

$ 33,340.06 $ 33,124.01

Net Revenue

$

216.05

Short Term CD

$ 85,600.00 $226,092.43 $127,796.17

Checking (1/31/23)

Dedicated Account (1/31/23)

Pay Pal (12/31/23) - Special Events Account (1/31/23) $ 4,987.53 Credit Line (1/31/23) $ - Building Fund (1/31/23) $ 54,086.36 Brian Wass Safety Fund (1/31/23) $ 1,285.61 Scholarship Savings (1/31/23) $ 500.00 Scholarship CD (1/31/23) $ 59,542.72 of our snowmobiling industry, an industry that is supported by volunteers and an industry that brings revenue into our State that is fast approaching 1 Billion dollars each year. I can tell you personally that you have a very good team working for you and we will continue beating this drum and work till we find a solution that works for all of us. Well that’s all for now folks, I hope to see some of you at a meeting, event, or maybe out on the Trail! As always keep fighting the good fight and if you have anything snowmobile related that you would like to talk about please call, text, or email me, my door is always open. Mark ideas for us please reach out. Email your regional VP at the link below: David Watson - dwatson6841@gmail.com Eileen Lafland - L.andE.lafland525476@gmail.com Jack Lord - jacklord5256@gmail.com Jerry Major - mrfun101jem@gmail.com Matt Stedman – stedman.matt@jdirving.com Matt Stedman $

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

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

D ear MSA snowmobile club mem bers, The MSA has put together a

Rangeley, Washburn and Windham. Statewide: Total Family Memberships 7,275 Total Business Memberships 1,861 Total Memberships 9,136 Counts by region: Central 1,570 Coastal 1,077 Eastern 2,385 Northern 1,974 Western 2,119

From The Membership Corner

KEEP THOSE MEMBERSHIPS COMING IN! REMEMBER THERE ARE AWRDS FOR THE TOP MEMBERSHIP CLUBS IN EACH REGION AT THE ANNUAL MEETING!

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

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