9044-R4_MSA_May2025_Newsletter

From The Executive Board

H ello Central Maine Snowmobilers Well its over! Our season might not have been very long but it was good while it lasted. In case you haven’t been following the progress of the Trails Bond, the MSA leadership has spent countless hours in meetings and legislative hearings. So begin the process of identifying your Projects and get the application started. If you have difficulty, there will be time to get it resolved by the deadline. To all the clubs, trail masters, trail workers, Groomer operators and club supporters, Thank You for all you have done to promote the sport and maintain the trails. Without you hard working folks, the state of Maine would not be in the top three snowmobiling Destinations in the country! Thank you Again, Ron Nunes it was only the second time in all my years with MSA Larry wasn’t there with me. The only other annual meeting he missed he was too sick to attend and that was in 2012 when I received the Snowmobiler of the Year award. Congratulations to all this year’s award winners. Everyone one of you is well deserv ing of the award you won. I was honored to be a part of presenting some of these awards, especially the Lafland Legacy Award and the Snowmobiler of the Year Award. Ossie Stan ley and Barry Ryan are both near and dear to my heart and were also to Larry. Great job guys! It was also special to be able to announce a scholarship recipient in Larry’s name and be part of the Scholarship Com mittee that could award five scholarships this year!! I know this is a long one, so I will close by saying this: I am excited to see what 2025-26 season brings for us! Enjoy the short break we have, and comeback in August ready to hit the ground running. Eileen

W e had snow Statewide, and the war dens were busy in the hotspots. Loud exhaust and unregistered sleds were the main violations. The snow came late, but the cold weather was here for quite a while. Several accidents were all over the State. Unfortu nately, we lost five fellow snowmobilers. We have to keep the education going with ads and classroom training. I was asked to speak in Medway and Rangeley at the Schools there. Both places were well attended, and chatting with the students is always great. I’ve noticed quite a few safety signs up in our trail system. This is a good thing to do, and I’ll be ordering more later in the off-season. Be sure to wear your PPE while operating any thing loud, as it can damage your body, safety glasses, earplugs, gloves, and good boots. Have a great summer! Al slow and looked like we were not going to get much snow to speak off, then one storm after another came in and the riding began. It didn’t last as long as we hoped but at least it seemed to cover the entire state, so peo ple could ride local if they chose. Clubs dusted off grooming equipment and trails were groomed frequently for a short period of time. It even appeared that registrations increased when the snow came, which helps the grant programs. For me it was an emotional season, and my sled didn’t leave the trailer. I had people offer to come get it and me and take me rid ing, but my heart wasn’t in it. Good news is, I don’t have to have them serviced and sum marized! Also, good news, they will be ready to go next season. Eastern Region clubs- I am TREMEN DOUSLY PROUD to be your regional VP and represent you. Your dedication and com mitment to this sport we all love goes above and beyond. You kept signing up and sending in memberships until the last minute along with all the activities you sponsored. Club meetings were held, suppers hosted, events to support MSA families in their pursuit of higher education. This year the scholarship committee is extremely excited to announce that five schol arships were awarded at the annual banquet. We did this without touching any of our CD funds, we had a good year selling 50/50 tickets at the MSA Show, we have been the recipient of funds from the Directors meeting 50/50, thanks the MSA leadership for supporting with this very generous gesture. Finally, the majority of the influx of extra money came in a bittersweet way, the New Limerick club did a fundraiser in memory of their club member T-Bone which will sponsor nearly two scholarships and the other was donations in memory of longtime MSA scholarship committee member Larry LaFland. Special thanks to everyone that sup ported either of these causes. All of us take our responsibility to score applications very seriously, this year we had 15 really good candidates that turned in applica tions. It was a very hard decision and I think I speak for all when I say we wished we could have given to all. Still, it was very heartwarm ing to know that we will be able to help support five very deserving families. Thanks to all that have helped us in the past and please consider supporting the scholarship fund in the future.

Safety Committee

Central Region VP

Alan Swett 207-872-7282 234 County Rd, Waterville ME 04901 snowtraveler@roadrunner.com

Ron Nunes, 401-527-5370 260 Last Round Up Rd, Lexington Twp, ME 04961 Thelastroundup2018@gmail.com planned and so much more. Thank you to all the hard-working volunteers in this region and across the state in every region for ALL YOU DO! I want to thank my regional directors: Craig Lemieux, Gary Dowling, Paul Bolstridge, Charlie Hannington, Barry Ryan and Larry for all their hard work this year. If I needed a go to person in their area, I knew they would step in and get the job done. Special thanks to Paul who has decided not to return next sea son for all the years he has been there. Also thank you to the MSA Officers: Mark Chin nock, Matt Stedman, Lori Hemmerdinger and Betsy Watson for the past year. I also need to thank Al Swett for all he does in the office and out in the field and Liz Mahaleris for all her efforts in the office. Another thank you to the MSA Steering Committee for the work they do. The biggest thank you goes to ALL MSA clubs, members, volunteers, business members and everyone that does what they do to make Maine a destination spot. By now, the MSA annual meeting has come and gone and awards have been presented. Another emotional day for me personally, as

Eastern Region VP

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

H ello Everyone! Another season is in the books and here we are saying good bye to 2024-25 and get ting ready for 2025-26!! The season started

DACF – Joe Higgins

Scholarship Committee

G ood afternoon fellow sledders and club members, As I sit here on April 1 st thinking about our 2024-25 snowmobile season, we actually had a better season than last year. Registrations will end at about 73,500 (I think). The 23-24 season ended at about 68,000, so it was a little better and when we had snow, the conditions that I got to experience were perfect. Well-groomed trails, the weather was great and the events I got to be a part of were a lot of fun with good people helping other orga nizations like Make-A-Wish. We didn’t get on all the projects I would have liked too, which will make for a very busy summer. We still have many bridge projects and trail work ahead of us, from all the storm damage last year. This brings up the conversation on the Maine Trails Bond and the process of being able to apply for the funding and how to get the much-needed trail work done over the next four years. As the details of the applications and reimbursements start coming together, we’ll be posting information on our website and sending out mass e-mails to keep all you informed. I’ll be asking for the MSA to help with this as well. The ORV office has been revisiting the Capital Equipment Grant program to meet the ever-increasing costs of equipment. Any rule change we make must go through a process of approvals which can be very time-consum ing, but worth it in the long run. I’ve been communicating with the Snow mobile Advisory Council a lot about this and feel we have a corrected the confusion on the $200,000 limit. Keep my fingers crossed we get this in and completed by next season round of funding. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to implement this for this year’s equipment grants. If you are looking to upgrade or purchase grooming equipment, be sure to let our office know and the deadline for the CEG grant applications is June 15th 2025. Lastly, I think I can speak for all of us here at the State of Maine Snow mobile Program in saying thank you to all the landowners who allow us to have trails on their land and to the many volunteer trail workers and groomer operators that put 10’s of thousands of hours getting the trails ready and safe. Hope you all have a fun filled and safe summer.

Harvey Chesley, 207-314-0637 25 Hillcrest Dr, Clinton ME 04927 harv.chesley@gmail.com

The scholarship committee is always excited about the annual MSA meeting in April because we get to announce the winners of the scholar ship contest. The past couple of years we have been fortunate to be able to award two-$1,500 prizes. As a committee, we have wanted to give as much as we can to as many as we can. With the cost of education continuing to increase, we feel like we need to do everything in our power

Larry Lafland Celebration of Life and Building Dedication

Saturday, May 24 th , 2025 at 2:00 PM Eastern Maine Snowmobile Club 263 Levenseller Road, Holden

Please come join Larry’s family and friends as we celebrate his life. We ask everyone to come with a story or two to share with all.

Joe Higgins 207-287-4957 Snowmobile Supervisor Snowmobile Program

Pot Luck with Light refreshments will be served.

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