8178-R1_MSA_November2022_MaineSnowmobiler

MSA Club News

season is about to start! Our first pot luck meeting was delayed one week. V.P. Kristina Verney opened the meeting to 18 members in attendance (plus a couple of furry friends). Election of officers was held with only one change to the current officers. Sonya Verney will now be Secretary. Wel come aboard! Registration, MSA ticket sales, Trick or Trunk at the Wiscasset Raceway, trail signage were all discussed. John updated on club funds and gasoline on hand. Our Christmas Party will be held at the Fire house on Thursday December 01. The Enter tainment Committee always does a fun festive time in store for everyone so plan on wearing your red and green and we will see everyone there. Our meetings are held the first Thursday of each month and are always pot luck. We will hope for cooler temps soon to freeze up the ponds, lakes, and streams. Club Reporter Joel Verney Hello from sunny Saco, Maine. Well, there isn’t a whole lot to report on this month. We are in full trail maintenance mode every Sun day starting at 8:30am. We can always use extra hands and we’ll feed you burgers and fries for lunch. It’s a great way to meet your fellow club members and get some brisk exer cise while walking and maintaining the trails. Saco’s annual Festival of Lights parade will be held on Saturday December 3rd. The Path finders will have a large trailer with several snowmobiles on it, a couple of side-by-sides hauling some of our grooming equipment, and lots of members handing out candy to the crowd. It’s great exposure for us as a way to let the local community know who we are and what we do. Like so many other clubs, development is jeopardizing our trail system. We have a hand ful of landowners who make up about 90% of our trail system, but a single small lot owner can wreak havoc on a trail by selling or build ing on the lot. We are seeing that with a couple of our trails and are working desperately with other landowners close by to see if re-routes are possible. We’ve largely avoided the build ing crunch in southern Maine, but it keeps get ting tighter and tighter every year. Lastly, please volunteer with your local club. Without volunteers, riding will not exist. Cheers Doug Doherty, President In September we held our LandownerAppre ciation Dinner and had a very good turnout. As usual, we feasted on lobster, clams, corn & cake! We are currently working to update our landowner list and have identified sev eral new landowners as property has changed hands over the last few years. If you own land in Jefferson and our trail system crosses your property, please reach out to us so we can ver ify and add you to next year’s invitation list! A quick reminder: it’s time to renew MSA memberships! We mailed out existing mem bership forms that the MSA provided us, but if you would like to join our club and receive the MSA newsletter, download & fill out our membership form (found on our website here: https://www.snopackers.com/join-the-club) along with a check for $25, and we will get you set up! Anyone who lives in Jefferson (or the sur rounding area) and would like to get involved with a local club, you are MORE than welcome to come and join us! We meet the first Tuesday of every month at the Jefferson Fire Station at 6:00pm. We each bring a small snack to share SACO PATHFINDERS sc Saco, ME Find us on Facebook JEFFERSON SNOPACKERS Jefferson, ME After a one-season hiatus, the Jefferson SnoPackers are back this year and we’re excited for the upcoming winter season!

and socialize over after our meetings. We are a small contingency of active members and just a few more would allow us to do a better job at trail maintenance (and have more fun!) This will probably be too late for anyone to see, but we will be doing trail maintenance on Sunday, November 6th and Sunday, November 20th. If you’re interested in coming out to help on those days, please email us and we will let you know when and where to meet up with us. As always you can find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SnoPackers. Give us a LIKE to follow our updates! Phil Morneault Vice President/Club Trail Master mpilihp@gmail.com Like us on Facebook or message us at sebagobranchduckers@gmail.com. Hello everyone! The club has been busy bringing in equip ment for basic maintenance preparing for the upcoming season. A big shout out to the folks behind the scenes working on the equipment! It wouldn’t get done without all the volunteer time put in. The recent rain has made some of the trails “Soggy” and a little more difficult to access. We will continue to focus on clearing the trails to make them safe and enjoyable. Volunteers are always welcome. As a reminder, club meetings are held on the 1st Thursday of each month beginning at 6:30 at the Branch Ducker’s clubhouse on Orchard Road in Sebago. MSA Super Raffle Tickets are available. This is a great way to support your local club and the great sport of snowmobiling! Tick ets are available at club meetings or you can request tickets via Facebook. Lots of super prizes. Do you feel Lucky? Be Safe on the Trails! Jim LaPointe Hello Everyone, The Sno-Crawler’s had their first club meeting, and it signifies the beginning of the 2022/23 snowmobile season. Memberships are due for renewal, so please reach out to your local Sno-Crawler or come to a meeting to renew or even better to join the club. There are business memberships, family member ships and individual memberships. WALDOBORO SNO-CRAWLERS Waldoboro, ME SEBAGO BRANCH DUCKERS Sebago, ME

several new planks. It should be much safer for snowmobiles and the land trusts hiking trail. This was an all-day project. Thanks to David Neubig, Troy Steeves, Tony Lash, Carl Gushee, and especially Richard Bravoco who also cooked hotdogs and burgers at lunch for the crew. Typically, our members can be found out on a portion of the trails on Sunday’s if you are interested in joining the work party contact one of our members in person or on the Facebook page “Waldoboro Sno-Crawlers” and they will tell you where to join them. All help is appreciated.

Stephanie Bravoco Club Reporter

WESTBROOK TRAIL BLAZES Westbrook, ME www.westbrooktrailblazes.com

Another winter season is fast approaching, and the trails are a-buzz with chainsaws, bush hogs, UTV’s and falling leaves. The crew has been out in full force clearing trails, repairing bridges, installing signage, and rerouting trails around obstacles and closures. Our biggest fundraiser was a huge success again this year. The club is a major man power supporter to the summer tournaments held at the Westbrook Little League Complex. Thank you to all that took time from their busy summer schedules to man the scoreboard, announce the games and do prep work on the fields. Election of Officers was held at our Septem ber meeting with club President Dan McCar thy leading the team again this year. See our website for a full appointment list. Discussion about equipment took place and we voted in the purchase of a second off-road trailer for our UTV’s. A few other repairs were approved but all in all the equipment end looks pretty solid for the upcoming season. Put Saturday December 3rd on your calen dar for our Annual Trailblazes Christmas Party and plan to party down with us at The Frog & Turtle restaurant in Westbrook. The band Stiles will be rocking the house again. That’s it for now. We’re waiting for the snow to fall. With some luck, by the time you read this we will have had a nice snowfall or two. One can wish, right! We hope your upcom ing holidays are memorable and that everyone is safe and healthy. >> Please join your local club!! Your dues go directly back into maintaining the trails you ride!!! << * Ride Safe, Ride Sober, Ride Right!!! * Check our calendar at www.westbrooktrail blazes.com for up to date Club info. Visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/ Westbrook Trail Blazes B ill Bouffard – Information Officer – 207 712-4395 billybouf@yahoo.com

Waldoboro Octoberfest celebration

We also had members participate in the Waldoboro Octoberfest celebration where they cooked hot dogs and hamburgers for the crowd. It was truly enjoyable being a part of the community celebration, and to be asked by our younger generations what a Sno-Crawler is, and what we do. We also had an oppor tunity to hear great feedback from those who enjoy the trails be it on snowmobile, skiing, snow shoeing, hiking, or biking. Special thanks to Stephanie Collamore, John Richard and Stephanie Bravoco. There will be many more work parties, and community celebrations to come so please reach out to a member today and look for us at a local event. Respectfully,

We’re looking for newspaper articles. Topics of interest.... All things snowmobiling! Do you have a favorite ride that you’d like to share? Grooming or trail work tips. Product reviews. Stories of your adventures. Club events. A member who goes above and beyond. If possible, please send along pictures for your articles. This paper is created for Snowmobilers and you are the experts - we’d love to have your input! Please submit articles to editor@mesnow.com

Waldoboro Sno Crawlers gather for trail work

Keith Feyler Bridge in South Waldoboro

The trail work has officially begun where a crew of six worked on the Keith Feyler Bridge in South Waldoboro. We had to replace an old tree with a new 18ft telephone pole. All new suspension cables were needed, along with

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