9225-R1_MSA_December2025_Newsletter

From The Executive Board Secretary’s Report - Shanna Towle Directors Meeting - Hosted by Lexington Highlanders at Madison VFW, Madison, ME - November 18, 2025

read. Mike Grass Jr made motion to accept as written, with second by Bill Cafarell and motion carried. Treasurer’s Report: Read by Assistant Treasurer Barry Ryan, no issues so will be placed on file at the office. Ex VP Comments: Matt thanked all who attended for coming. Big thank you to Lexington for hosting and providing the meal. Matt had everyone in attendance indicate what club they represented just to get an idea of how many clubs involved. VP reports: Western: Jerry Major- ITS 89 in Oxford still working on issues, ITS 82 possible issue to resolve. Coastal: David Watson- seen some snow but melted quick, need a good freeze then snow, clubs are building bridges (repairs) & clearing trails. Northern: Nick Morrill- not much going on, clubs getting out marking trails Central: Ron Nunes- not much going on, clubs getting out clearing trails & getting ready. Eastern: Eileen Lafland- had a regional meeting with 10 clubs attending, Milford ITS issues resolved. Membership: Eileen said they are starting to come in quickly please look in the November newsletter for the regional numbers. When sending in the transmittal forms if person is an associate or not have a card, please mark them with an X. If sending in and adding to old list please mark who needs adding so it’s easier to find and not hunt through to match everything. Director of Operations & Safety: Al Swett- show went well. Safety- Al said that most accidents are preventable. There is an IF&W safety course that can be taken, make sure to is for the scholarship fund. There are clubs out there that dedicate their returnable bottle money to the fund to help continue supporting anyone who wants to apply and further their education. As mentioned in the November article, the scholarship committee is still in the process of clarifying some of the paper work in order to open a new CD with the $60,000 from the old CD. Once the paperwork is completed that money will be transferred into the new account. It is not too early to complete a scholarship application and submit it to the MSA office. All applications must be postmarked and pref erably received in the MSA office by April 1, 2026. The USPS mail delivery system seems to be getting slower, so get a start on it now. The applications can be accessed on the MSA website. They can also be submitted through a formstack application which is also on the website. There are a few requirements that an applicant needs to do before submitting the request, so please take the time to look it over well and submit all information requested. Once again, this year there will be three $1500 scholarships awarded at the MSA annual meeting in April. The winners are required to complete their first semester at the school of their choice and then submit a copy of their second semester registration form to receive the funds. The 2026 winners will have the money sent to their school in Jan. 2027 after your registration information is received. Reminder to the April 2025 winners. Please submit your second semester registration information to the MSA office so your awards can be paid out. That’s all for this month. The MSA scholarship Committee

check your sled before you ride, know the conditions before you go ride Scholarship: Barry Ryan- talked about the deadline for April 1st for applications, appreciate all the donations to the scholarship fund (they make it possible) Trails: Brent Spaulding- started having monthly committee meetings, route assignment dinners getting scheduled, new MSA trail app has been released and need clubs to submit permission forms (for posting trail data, POI, etc.) and submit data to add to the app. Please send data to trails@mesnow. com also the municipal grant deadline is December 1 st . Funding: Matt says been working on reshaping bill for next session. Hospitality & Hall of Fame: Gail Ryan- start thinking and getting nominations in now for Hall of Fame. The review deadline is Feb 28th. Sent out several cards to various people including President Mark Chinnock get well. Joke given. Old Business: Super Raffle: doing well, deadline for clubs to get credit is 12/5 but can still submit up to the day of the raffle on 12/11. Next Director’s Meeting is at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer and need to RSVP on line for attending dinner. Powersports Show: did a good job with the show with the new changes but have plans to make it better for next year. New Business: Funding: Matt introduced a mock up idea about registration costs fees that had ideas

for lower cost if registered early. Ron Nunes made a motion to support this idea and move forward with a draft, this was seconded by Jerry Major, there was some discussion and motion was carried. Social Media Guidelines: Matt presented a possible policy for social media posts and to amend bylaws to address this. Maine Trails Program: Shanna said that the MTP ambassadors extended the grant survey from November 16th to the 23rd to give more time for clubs to give honest feedback on the grant process to improve for the next round. Club President recognition: 4 presidents recognized at the meeting Announcements: • Looking for information when MSA clubs were established with the name of the club and year and when affiliated with MSA and if been continuously part of MSA. Want to create a list to recognize club milestones (like 10, 20, 50 years) • Lexington still has 2 hunter’s breakfasts scheduled the next couple of Saturdays • 1/10 Anson Fishing Derby at Sandy Pond in Emden • 1/24 January Director’s Meeting • 2/7 Timber Cruisers ride from Millinocket to Medway & Director’s Meeting • 3/14 Gateway SC Van Buren host ride & Director’s Meeting Pot of Gold: Ron mixed up the clubs and was drawn by Al who chose Narrow Guage in Strong, but no one in attendance so back in the pot. 50/50: winning ticket was 958032 and won by Brent Spaulding Meeting adjourned at 8:30pm. ing to see Mother Nature rewarding us for all our efforts to prepare for the riding season. As for your sled, have you checked battery, sliders, and carbides? Changed the oil? Installed those accessories you bought at the show? Of course, I’m sure the first thing you did was get it regis tered, right? Hopefully by the time you actually read this there will be some early season riding. The Trail Committee is in its usual pattern of monthly meetings and regular contact with clubs. December is when we get an updated contact list from club grant data, so any discrep ancies on contacts should be resolved. There was a signage workshop on Dec 13th in Rum ford in conjunction with the hill climb at Black Mountain. It was good to get a session done in that area. As always, reach out and I can come to YOUR club and run another session. Our efforts to include club data in the MSA TRAILS APP continue daily. There has been a steady stream of emails and for that, we thank you. The upcoming riding season will continue to enhance map data and accuracy. The committee will be recording their rides to ensure our plots are spot on. If your club has not yet sent in club trail data and are having trouble with the process, reach out to me. I will get you up to speed. All for now, Brent Monthly Total as of Nov. 24, 2025 Family memberships 3,883 Business memberships 829 For a total of 4,712 Totals by Region Central 541 Coastal 571 Eastern 1,193 Northern 1,066 Western 1,333 For a total of 4,704 182 clubs out of the 285 have submitted memberships at this point. Rangeley has over 400 memberships cur rently and Washburn has over 200 currently. There are four clubs with over 100 mem berships and seventeen clubs with over 50 memberships. That does mean there are over 100 clubs who have not submitted any mem berships as of Nov. 24 th . Regional VP’s- You can contact Eileen if you would like to know which clubs have no members at this time.

Shanna Towle, Secretary 207-341-1747 878 Main Steet, Palmyra, ME 04965 shannatowle@gmail.com

ATTENDEES: in person: Ex VP Matt Stedman, Secretary Shanna Towle, Treasurer Lori Hemmerdinger, Richard Horne, Catherine Horn, Ernie Falcone, Kathy Falcone, Paula Huff, Lori Nunes, Ron Nunes, Cecil Wilson, Paul Brocheau, Estelle Carey, Ken Carey, Al Swett, Jay Hanson, Tom Child, Ed Brownell, Bob Flagg, Terri Major, Jerry Major, Tracie Mari, Bill Cafarell, Brad Porter, Theodore Mysiaszek, John Nelson, via Zoom: David Watson, Laurie Plourde, Charlie Huntington, John Shoum, Nick Morrill, Mike Delong, Robert Corthell, Brad Barker. Meeting called to order at 7:01pm by Ex VP Matt Stedman. Salute to the American flag. Secretary’s Report: Copies handed out to

Scholarship Committee

Trails Committee Chair Report

Brent Spaulding, MSA Trails Chairman 207-944-7762 41 Madison Ave Brewer ME 04412 msatrailchair@gmail.com G reetings from Brewer, As I write this, it’s actually snowing ! The cold and winter weather pattern are finally set tling in. I can imagine that many clubs were scrambling to get stakes in and signage up. I know there were a few in our area. It’s excit

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

****CORRECTION TO THE NOV. ARTICLE. It should have said donation from the 50/50 of the Oct. MSA directors mtg was $60 from the directors and not $600. OOOPS my mistake!!***** Welcome to December everyone! Another year is almost over. Where does the time go? The scholarship committee members wish everyone a safe and Merry Holiday season and Best Wishes for 2026! At the November Directors meeting hosted by the Lexington Highlanders the 50/50 amount that will be placed in the scholarship fund was $55. Thanks to all who bought tick ets and helped the scholarship fund grow. Just a friendly reminder, clubs can make donations to the scholarship fund at any time and they can be sent to the MSA office, specifying it

From The Membership Corner

MSA CLUBS: TO ORDER CLUB TRAIL SIGNAGE

TO ORDER NEEDED ITS & JCT SIGNS Contact Mike Grass Sr. MSA Trails Committee

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

Contact Vanessa Haas DACF/Snowmobile Program Phone (207) 287-4957 Fax (207)287-8111 Vanessa.Haas@maine.gov

T hank you to the clubs for sending in the memberships and keeping us busy entering them in to the system. October and November have been busy months. Keep them coming.

252 Condon Road, Plymouth, ME 04969 207-368-4914 home • 207-745-2745 cell Grasslands252@gmail.com

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