8843-R6_MSA_September2024_Newsletter

From The Executive Board

From the President

maintenance. Clubs statewide need new active members to keep this all going. You do not have to be able to cut trees & brush or operate a groomer to be able to help your local club. There are a lot of different skills needed within the snowmobile clubs…you may just be the person they have been looking for! With ever increasing traffic load and more folks coming here from away for our consistent and long winters there is a lot of work which the same folks end up doing. Please reach out and join a club. It’s quite rewarding to help and then take a ride on the trail you have helped with. The need for new people to step up does not stop at the local club level, the Maine Snowmobile Association is always in need of folks to step out of the sidelines and take on a larger role to help keep our sport moving forward. If something piques your interest, please ask one of our members how you could help. This fall the MSA will have a small group working on getting legislation prepared for post-election 2024 to better fund our clubs. We have been brainstorming across the state to get ideas over the past year and have accumulated some great ideas. There is no one single answer, and all ideas will be needed to make sure we get the right combination. Just because we don’t tackle all the ideas to move forward this session of legislature does not mean they will not be revived in another season. One more focus for the winter, trail safety.  We hired a legislative lobbyist. James Cote was hired by the MSA. He represents the MSA and its 280 clubs. James is the eyes and ears at the Statehouse in Augusta. He represents the Trappers Association as well as the Maine Guides and has extensive understanding and appreciation of outdoor sports recreation. James has already helped us out many times with snowmobile related legislative bills. The combination of the funding committee working together with our lobbyists has brought us closer to achieving our goal of getting more money for the clubs. VP positions. Nick Morrill will take over Matt’s position as the Northern Region VP. Ron Nunes, the new Central Region VP, is stepping in for Jack Lord who has decided to retire. Matt Baron is the new Coastal Region VP who is stepping in for Dave Watson. These three new Regional Vice Presidents have been active with the MSA and I am proud to have all of them on my team along with our returning VP’s. Eileen Lafland will continue as Eastern Region VP, and Jerry Major will continue as Western Region VP. Eileen and Jerry are a wealth of MSA knowledge, and I encourage club officers to work with them to strengthen your club’s membership and operations. Another great resource at your disposal is our full-time staff at the MSA Office. Al Swett is staying with the MSA in his new role as Director of Operations. Al has one of the best understandings of how the association works. His statewide contacts and his connection with the people in our snowmobiling community are mind-boggling. Liz Mahaleris is at the office full-time. Liz is a pleasure to talk with and can answer most of your questions or refer you to someone who can. Liz can also get your updated membership lists and any other materials you may need for your club’s membership. Each year we strive to improve all aspects of the Maine Snowmobile Association. I am making it my priority to focus on funding and membership. The MSA continues to work at getting more money back to the clubs. We are doing this in a couple of ways.  We have formed a Funding Committee. This committee puts together ideas on how to get more money back to the clubs. Those ideas are brought forward to the Executive Board and then legislation is considered to bring life to the ideas.

Last winter was a lower snow winter, but we don’t want that to take the focus away from snowmobiler safety. MSA and clubs should continue to work with the Maine Warden Service to make sure folks are safe on the trails. Please reach out to your MSA regional director or district Warden to set up a trail safety check, report areas of abuse or misuse and to get a dialogue going as the season ramps up. Nothing will resolve trail safety if we do not work away at it individually and as a group. Watch for more from the MSA on snowmobile safety this coming winter. If you are a club that needs help, or a group of new officers/directors please reach out to your local MSA VP or regional directors. We are here as a resource for the clubs to help in any way we can. We may not know all the answers but will work to get you the answers or put you in touch with someone to help. If you have a question, problem, concern, or idea on snowmobiling in Maine, get in touch with me. You can call or text me at the phone # or email below. I am honored to be in this role within the Association and hope to meet more of you as the season gets going. Get out and attend a fall fundraiser, landowner dinner, go to the MSA snowmobile show and get pumped up for this coming winter season!! Matt Stedman Stedman.matt@jdirving.com 207-557-1921 I will end by telling you that writing this as your president feels surreal, but I am extremely excited to be an active part of one of ( if not the greatest ) Snowmobile Associations in the nation. It really is easy to get excited when you are surrounded by as many passionate snowmobilers that care so much about the future of our sport as I do. I truly am blessed to have been given the opportunity to lead this amazing group and pledge to do my best. As always, if you have any questions, concerns, issues or would just like to talk about anything Snowmobile related, my door is always open. Thank you, Mark Chinnock MSA President The membership part of our focus, both soliciting new members and retaining existing members for the clubs and the MSA, is without a doubt a full-time and somewhat daunting job. We are working very hard to come up with an online forum for membership that works for everyone and makes it easy for the potential member to join the MSA and club of their choice. This forum can also be used for an existing member to join multiple clubs from the comfort of the easy chair. Having a person join your club is not the end of it. Equally as important as getting new members is retaining existing members, and that is the only way that we can grow as a club, an association, and as a sport. I feel like with the advent of technology and social media presence that recruiting new members is the easier part of the equation, retaining them requires a little bit more work. And then there is this question: “How do we get more of our members to be “active members?” I would definitely be open to listening to new ideas on this topic! We are pleased to say that we are continuing the tradition of the Super Raffle this year and have three sleds, two trailers, and a host of other raffle prizes secured to help your club sell lots of tickets. +For help with this, or if you have any Super Raffle questions, please contact the MSA office or ask any MSA officer. The Maine Snowmobile Show is slated once again to be held at the Augusta Civic Center on October 18-20, 2024. Dozens of vendors will fill both the inside and outside of the Civic Center, we will have our ever popular “Trails Workshop”, and we can’t forget the fast growing and popular “Vintage Sled Room”.

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

Monthly Income Monthly Expense

$ 5,508.14 $ 41,479.68 $ (35,971.54) $ 85,600.00 $163,747.51 $111,120.37

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

Net Revenue

Short Term CD (8/31/24)

Checking (8/31/24)

H ello fellow MSA members and welcome to the 2024-2025 Snowmobile season! When I say that I am excited for this upcoming season it is without a doubt an understatement for several reasons. The first reason is that we have been very patient with Mother Nature and her extreme mood swings. A good old-fashioned winter is long overdue, and I am optimistic that it will happen this time around. Secondly, I feel that the MSA team that we have in place to see us through the next several years is full of experience and knows how to guide the MSA to be a positive voice and strong leader in the sport of snowmobiling and everything that goes along with it. We have several new faces to bring in new ideas and fresh insights as well as some seasoned veterans who will give us the benefit of their experience and mentor those who are willing and able to help. I would like to introduce our new Executive Vice President Matt Stedman. Matt is a forester by trade and is well versed in land management and landowner relationships. He practices seeing all sides of any situation and can offer fresh ideas and see them through. Matt is a great leader, and I am fortunate to be able to work with him. We have fresh faces within the Regional

Dedicated Account (8/31/24)

Pay Pal (8/31/24) - Special Events Account (8/31/24) $ 4,987.53 Credit Line (8/31/24) $ - Building Fund (8/31/24) $ 54,165.11 Brian Wass Safety Fund (8/31/24) $ 1,285.76 Scholarship Savings (8/31/24) $ 1,706.12 Scholarship CD (8/31/24) $ 60,066.05 $

Director of Operations

Alan Swett, 207-872-7282 234 County Rd, Waterville ME 04901 snowtraveler@roadrunner.com H ere we go again folks starting another Maine Snowmobile Association season. It’s been rainy many days of the summer so hopefully the weather pattern has changed and bring Maine some much needed snow and cold weather. People from all over the nation come and ride our trails. They know we have the best volunteers, groomer operators, landowners and supporting businesses in the industry. The results are incredible trails with breath taking scenery, wildlife and adventures that can only be had in our state, there lifelong rides that are talked about forever! The State Legislature will be meeting soon, and our lobbyist James Cote is on top of any thing and everything that is MSA related. Assisting the MSA clubs with new laws and procedures that will protect the landowners and riders for years to come. The $30 mil lion bond is supported by the MSA body and will be a great boost of revenue for our trail system. This funding will help the trails year round with the increasing number of people using them and the rain and wind devastat ing our trails this money will only help out. More than 500 organizations, business and towns have joined us to support this bill. The money will be distributed over 4 years. 25% for motorized 25% non-motorized and 50% to multi use. Bureau of Parks and Lands will administer the funds. It will be on the ballot in November hopefully it passes, and we will get some much-needed help. I hope you all had a wonderful summer! AL

From the Executive VP

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

H ello snowmobilers of Maine, Welcome to those of you who do not regularly get this paper. We hope you join an MSA club this season so you can enjoy this paper monthly, as well as a multitude of other benefits that come from joining a club & the MSA has for its members. All summer folks at all levels in local clubs and The Maine Snowmobile Association work to ensure that issues that affect snowmobilers & snowmobiling are being discussed and worked on so we can continue to enjoy our great sport for years to come. Landowner changes & issues, trail re-routes, capital equipment grants/purchases/upgrades as well as groomer

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