8906-R1_MSA_November2024_Newsletter

From The Executive Board

looks to be holding to average temperatures in November. While doing your trail work be sure to wear the proper gear. Keep a watchful eye on one another and be aware of tripping hazards. Home safety tips include smoke and O2 detectors. Change their batteries and replace them if you’ve had them for a while. Fire sup pressants are good to have on all floors of your house or camp. Plan an escape route with fam ily and friends in case of a fire. Trailers should be checked over from front to rear, if your tires are cracked, replace them. Wheel bearings should be greased and service the hubs and brakes. Make sure all the lights work. Look for cracks on the frame around the axle, tongue, and hitch. Hopefully, La Nina will bring us a much needed winter. Make sure you have your sleds checked over. Track, ski carbides, battery, lights, maybe a complete tune-up including clutch cleaning. Doing it now is good, instead of breaking down on the trail. Make sure your gear all fits as it should. Many of our dealers have great snowmo bile options from helmets, boots, coats, bibs, gloves, and mittens to make your trip a mem orable one. Please be safe out there! Al voters about this issue- it is a positive step for ward for us, and one that we intend to build on. The chambers in the Maine State House, the House and Senate, appear to look similar to what they were before Election Day. Democrats appear to have held on to their majorities in both chambers, but Republicans were able to make some meaningful gains as well. MSA will con tinue to work diligently with members of both parties to achieve results for our membership. MSA leadership continues to discuss var ious legislative options with a goal of deliv ering even more funding for our clubs. We are basing these discussions on data and pre cedence, and expect to be working on these issues throughout the legislative session (Jan uary through June). One thing that is import ant for us all to be mindful of is that appro priations and funding legislation will require significant patience and hard work given the expected structural budget gap. As we finalize our proposals and strategies we will continue to socialize them with members and clubs for your input, as well as to invite you to partici pate in support of our efforts. Legislative leadership and committee assignments will begin to take shape in com ing days, and the legislature will start its work in earnest in early January. Until then, I hope all of you enjoy a wonderful holiday season and keep those snow dances active! Fingers crossed for a great riding season! Respectfully, James Cote, MSA Lobbyist on trails, bridges, and grooming equipment in anticipation of a great season. Remember to register your snowmobiles and do not forget to join a club and participate in that club. Not only is there labor work to be done, but there is an enormous amount of work that you can do behind the scenes with management, fundraising, membership and more. So even if you think you cannot help in the woods, you can still contribute a great deal. The MSA Central Region is the gateway to the Northwoods for tourists and many of our clubs operate with small teams. So please follow our websites and social media sites for information on individual clubs in the areas you ride and pitch in where you can. I would also like to thank all of you who attended the Central Region Directors meeting at the VFW in Madison. And a special thanks to all that helped set up and prepare the delicious meal. Ron Nunes, Central Region VP

longer permitted. A Facebook post was gener ated and the club, while justifiably frustrated, started looking for options to maintain con tinuity of the trail system. What ensued was several inappropriate comments and threats towards the landowners on Facebook to the point that game wardens were called in to alle viate the situation. In the end, the landowners were comforted and calmed down while the club found a solution that would actually be a better long-term solution. I would hazard a guess that every single club within the MSA family has dealt with a landowner denying trail access at one time or another. I know these situations can challenging and frus trating, but I implore you all to take a pause before you respond and inform your club and the public at large. Keep it respectful and state the facts in broad strokes. I would also ask that you address inappropriate comments on social media. Sometimes, if lines of commu nication are open with the landowners, then, just maybe, some conversation and education will change their mind. Threats and disparag ing remarks get us nowhere. I want to thank everyone who attended my workshop at the MSA Snowmobile Show last month. It was a great turn out and the discus sion was fantastic. I always learn something at these events. I hope you did too! In fact, that session inspired me to write about another common question. Stay tuned – you’ll have to member does have a number in the system and we can use that old number, rather than issuing a new one. If they don’t know it, that is fine as long as you indicate they were a MSA member in the past, include their full name and a birthdate if possible and we can find it. Also -please write on the FRONT of the transmittal form if you are including mem bers and do not have a card for them. We try very hard to match the cards with the names on the form but sometimes that doesn’t hap pen and we must go back through to find the member we missed. You can even highlight the member that doesn’t have a card includ ed on the back side of the transmittal form. That will make it easier for us. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us either at the office or email membership@mesnow. com. You can also email me directly at l.an de.lafland525476@gmail.com and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Membership total as of Oct. 22, 2024 95 clubs have submitted memberships to the office as of this date. Three clubs have submitted over 100 memberships. Total memberships are as follows: Family 2,261 and business 417 with a total of 2,678 Membership totals by region Central 264 Coastal 210 Northern 578 Eastern 730 Western 896 Everybody seems to be working hard and it appears that almost everybody is ready to get trails opened up. Everybody is praying for a better winter than what we had last year. I noticed clubs are picking up their new equipment and getting them ready and I just want to say congratulations to all those clubs, for getting grants for said equipment. I write this the night we find out about the trail bond and like every club and member I pray it passes. I hope everybody has a great November and great Thanksgiving. Think snow everyone! Matthew Baron read about it next month. Think Snow…………… Brent pretty hard that weekend to start thinking about snowmobiling.

MSA Lobbyist Capitol Report

Trails Committee Chair Report

James Cote MSA Lobbyist TRAILS BOND PREVAILS! W ell it’s Wednesday, November 6th and the dust is just beginning to settle on this election season. Most importantly for MSA, I couldn’t be happier to report that the $30 million trails bond has been approved by Maine voters by what appears to be a margin of roughly 55%-45%. While this money won’t get distributed immediately, things will begin to move in coming weeks and months, and some significant financial support is finally on the way for our industry and sport. MSA lead ership and I will be meeting with state officials in coming weeks and days to talk through more details and we will certainly pass along any information we receive to clubs. Thank you to all who helped spread the word and educate

Brent Spaulding, MSA Trails Chairman 207-944-7762 41 Madison Ave Brewer ME 04412 msatrailchair@gmail.com G reetings from Brewer, I have finally witnessed the first frost of the season. Mother Nature is making the turn towards winter. I know most of you have already been out getting ready for what I hope will be a banner year of white gold. I have a new sled to try out so, thank you, for all your time, effort, and passion for our sport. A common trail issue cropped up this past month. A new landowner transplanted from another state informed the local club that access for a sled trail on said property was no

Safety Committee

From The Membership Corner

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

M emberships are coming in to the office a good rate currently. Great job everyone for getting in as many as you have. Hopefully all clubs will send in more soon so that members continue to receive their MSA paper. If their membership is not in the system, they are not receiving the paper and missing out on the news. A message for club membership people- Please ask the member if they have ever been an MSA member of any club when they are signing up. Anyone that has ever been a

Alan Swett 207-872-7282 234 County Rd, Waterville ME 04901 snowtraveler@roadrunner.com N ovember marks our get-ready month. Prepare for the unexpected, snow and ice could be at our doorstep, and we need to take it easy and remember how to drive, walk, and ride our snowmobiles if we get lucky and have some accumulating snow. The weather

Central Region VP

Coastal Region VP

Matthew Baron, 207-608-3737 92 Emery Corner Rd, Limerick, ME 04048 msacoastalregion@gmail.com W ow, it’s November already. Time is flying. There’s a ton of fundraising events that have been going on and we are passed the annual snowmobile show. This year it was warm and sunny in the 70s. It was

Ron Nunes, 401-527-5370 260 Last Round Up Rd, Lexington Twp, ME 04961 Thelastroundup2018@gmail.com T he leaves are falling, temperatures are dropping. Fall is here, and winter is on its way. Clubs and their teams are working hard

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