9245-R2_MSA_January2026_Newsletter

From The Executive Board

From the President

ready. It is amazing the work it takes to be ready for trails to be groomed. I thank each and every one of you for the effort you put into the snowmobile trail systems across Maine. If it was not for all your dedicated hours so many families would not be able to enjoy snowmobiling in Maine. The snowmobile volunteer group in Maine is amazing, and I am proud to be part of it. If your club struggles with having new people show up to help with the workload, please invite a new friend or acquaintance to your next meeting or workday. We all can use some new helpers and there is no better way to get them hooked than to show them the rewarding work we do. You do not need lots of special skills, there are so many ways to help, some you probably haven’t thought of yet. CLUBS: Please respond to offers of help, even if the answer is “not right now”. SNOMOBILERS: Step up, reach out & help. If we do not take the time to welcome new people, we will have to do it all forever! The MSA has been working throughout the summer and fall on updated legislation to improve funding to the trail maintenance & capitol equipment funds. Our bill was “carried over” from last winters’ session which means we can go back in front of committee to plead our case again. It has been about five years since the last legislation added to these accounts from the last registration increase. We all know the cost of doing business has increased significantly since then. Thanks to everyone for all the ideas that you continue to 2. If you stop at a restaurant or gas station, a lot of times there will be a donation jar to help fund the club’s grooming activities. Show them that you enjoy their efforts and throw in a couple of bucks, trust me er-wise back in November and early Decem ber with snow and cold weather. Then the rain came. At least things will freeze up the snow insulated the ground and right now it’s only 15 degrees at my house with snow and colder in the forecast. The Super Raffle went well this time around. The prizes were much appreci ated by our vendors. They’re the best in the business. From Kittery to Madawaska, they come through every year supporting our clubs. Thank you all for your support. The best time in my raffle life is giving away the prizes. The winners face light up like a Christmas tree! It’s a special time. Thank you to the clubs for all your hard work. It’s not just the top prizes, the sleds and trailers and $5,000.00 gift card Shin Ponds generosity, you all make it happen and landowners as they are the gateway to our trail system and without them we would be riding in circles on our own land and that certainly wouldn’t be fun for very long, I think we could all agree. If we think about it for a minute, our snowmobiling family and communities are comprised of tens of thousands of riders across the State, 285 snowmobile clubs, over 12,000+ members with thousands of active members working hard and doing whatever it takes to ensure that Maine puts out the best product on the snow by far. But it doesn’t stop there, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention all the time and work put into the sport by the Dept of ACF Snowmobile division and the Maine Snowmobile Association and its volunteers. Let’s not forget all of the businesses and outfitters that are out there to make it convenient, enjoyable and safe for the rider to have a successful experience. Now in order to make this sport succeed and flourish all of the aforementioned must work together and help one another be the best that they can be. It is important to remember that the clubs and volunteers rely on your support as a snowmobiler. It is without a doubt a very expensive proposition for a club to support itself, and cannot do it on grant money alone, and there are a few simple things that you as a snowmobiler can help out. 1. Join a Club (I know that most of you reading this paper already belong to a club) But do you know that you can join online to as many clubs as you like, maybe support the clubs where you ride, every little bit helps.

they really do appreciate that. 3. If you are not able to help with boots on the ground work, reach out to the club, there are many other ways in which to help a club, and believe me they will appreciate that as well because most clubs are working on a skeleton and aging core group. 4. One good way to get involved is if you see that a club is holding an event (and we all read social media) get in touch with a member and see if you can help in some way. It can be a fun and rewarding way to give back to the sport. 5. And lastly, be courteous and appreciative to the groomers and maintenance workers on the trail if you happen upon them. Give them a thumbs up or stop and simply thank them for their work. A simple thank you goes a long way. These are very simple things that we can all do to help give back to the sport that we all enjoy, and as I said before, we all need to work together whether you are a rider, an active member or part of one of the associations or departments, the more involved you are the easier the work for everyone. This is my take on the sport being involved from the inside. Snowmobiling has a Very powerful positive impact on our State’s economy but is very fragile at the same time but if we all work to make it prosper we will be able to enjoy this sport for a long time to come! Well that’s it for now, I hope to see many of you either on the trail or at one of the showcase director’s meetings, but if I don’t and you would like to talk about anything snowmobile related please reach out to me. As always, my door is open, until next time enjoy the snow and be safe on the trail. Mark share on ways to increase funding. We have not forgotten any of them and will continue to work to make sure clubs are well funded for trail work. I hope you are as anxious as I am to get out on the trails, but please be safe. The MSA’s “Ride smart today, ride again tomorrow” is how we should all think when planning a ride & heading out. Take the time to talk to others in your group about snowmobile safety and trail etiquette. Every rider approaches trail safety differently and we can all learn from other experiences and stories. Please heed signage along the trails, the club members who install & maintain them put them up for a reason, to direct you or share information with you. This is especially true of “Caution plowed road/logging”. Clubs gather information from landowners on where they can be, where landowners do not want us and following that signage make the difference of keeping that trail open. Where snowmobilers interact with logging & trucking operations the landowner & clubs have worked together to allow us to continue access through the active job. WE MUST BE RESPECTFUL of the workers there. We (snowmobilers) are out having fun, recreating, but those folks are working. Follow signs, wait for operators to motion us past, ride slow & to the right, yield to vehicles, etc. If we don’t, access could be lost not just for that section, but for other locations and years as well. Landowners often own more than one parcel and if shared access doesn’t work in one location, they are likely to we appreciate you very much. My time is up on the IF&W’s Landowner Relation Committee. It was a learning time for me, and I appreciate those folks very much. I made some lifelong friends related to what I enjoy the most protecting the landowners and our trails. We have made new laws to protect the landowners, and the committee will carry their mission on to have everyone involved. We have many challenges in the years ahead if you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know. I’ll try to answer or send you in the right direction. Access to private land is an issue we need to get a handle on. We ride on their land and anybody that disrespects their land should be banned or punished. Most complaints from landowners are liter, noise and land getting dug up. Wood harvesting can close a trail very quickly and send a club look

Treasurer’s Report

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

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

H ello Everyone, First things first, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year! Yes, we have successfully completed another snowmobiling year and are now embracing the 2026 season full steam ahead. It’s hard to know what mother nature has in store for us in the months to come but as of this writing I can see many areas with rideable snow with grooming activities in some areas of the State. Clubs as well as riders are very anxious to get out on the trails to put on some well-needed miles and smiles! We all get super excited for the first rides of the season but please be cautious, courteous and respectful of not only our fellow riders but of our very gracious From the Executive VP

Monthly Income Monthly Expense

$ 65,436.87 $ 43,576.69 $ 21,860.18 $ 93,956.22 $156,153.23 $188,576.36 $ 1,414.43

Net Revenue

Short Term CD (12/31/25)

Checking (12/31/25)

Dedicated Account (12/31/25)

Pay Pal (12/31/25) Square (12/31/25)

$

332.00

Stripe (12/31/25) - Online Super Raffle $ - Special Events Account (12/31/25) $ 4,987.53 Credit Line (12/31/25) $ - Building Fund (12/31/25) $ 57,339.60 Brian Wass Safety Fund (12/31/25) $ 3,997.80 Scholarship Savings (12/31/25) $ 68,046.37 ($60,000 to be moved to Northeast Bank) Scholarship CD (12/31/25) $ - Scholarship 12 Month CD (12/31/25) $ 5,158.91 Larry Lafland scholarship Fund (12/31/25) $ 3 ,078.47 say no the next time. There are many events planned by clubs this winter, check out the calendar in the paper and follow club news where you ride or plan to vacation for information on these events so you can make them part of your winter. Check out the calendar in the back of the paper, club Facebook pages & websites as you plan out your winter. I personally love starting my ride days with a club breakfast. Every month in the winter there are regional rides & directors meetings planned. If you have not attended one, they are good time, led by folks from the region and are a great opportunity to learn more about the area and to meet some of the local club & MSA folks. January is Western (Norway), February is Eastern (Millinocket), March is Northern region (Van Buren). Check out the regional VP articles for more information. If you have a question, problem, concern, or idea on snowmobiling in Maine, please get in touch with me. You can contact me at the phone # or email below. Matt ing for a reroute that is more work and labor intensive. Communication is the key; large or small landowners need to be your first stop to solve the problem. Remembering 2025 I’d like to thank the team for all you do. Maine snowmobiling is a nationwide destination point, people from all over the country come to ride our trails. Our ITS network is very unique stretching from extreme Southern Maine to the extreme North. Eastern Maine offers some spectacular trails along with the Western Mountains they have some very well-kept secret trials in those areas worth riding. We will be getting the 2026 Super Raffle going in a few months or weeks. If you have any ideas let me know. I wish you good health and happiness! Be Safe Out There! AL

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

H appy New Years’ fellow snowmobilers, I hope you had the opportunity to spend time with family and friends over the Christmas season. This December did allow for a bit of early season riding in a few places, which was a great change of pace. But then it disappeared again…oh well, the base should freeze good now! Clubs across the State have been extremely busy all fall and through December preparing for a long winter. Hopefully it comes in with the new year. There have been thousands of hours of volunteer work done just to get

Director of Operations W elcome to year 2026! Happy New Year! Well, we started off pretty good weath

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

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