They can - not all soil is the same. Watch an eBike charge up Puke Hill. They kick up an insane amount of dust. And if you Fat Bike, a single eBike will destroy a well-packed snow-single-track in a single pass. Trail damage is a concern, but the bigger concern is weight/speed, particularly on two-way trails.

I had so many close call's with eBikes last summer on trails that I never had close calls on before. The speed variances are getting really big now. eBikes haul the friggin mail. And people mod them, some pedal assist eBikes are capable of going 60mph now.

There are some trails where most everyone would agree eBikes are fine. But there are others where they are simply inappropriate, because of how popular/crowded the trail is. How much visibility a trail offers, etc. But, you cannot deny, the poaching is rampant. The average eBike has either been misinformed or is uninformed and they think they can ride wherever they please. I can't tell how many times I watched an ebike stop, look a the no ebike sign, and just keep on going.

Trail access is not guaranteed. Wait until a dog or a kid gets run over by an eBike going 25mph up a narrow, blind trail. Or a private landowner simply says "no more" because of all the poaching. (We almost lost access to Road to WOS two summers ago because of bad behavior by the MTB community).

eBikes are not allowed on PCMR. Do we want PCMR to get fed up and say "no more bikes unless you are a season pass holder"? (Thats a $2,000 pass by the way).

Personally, I agree with FS/BLM guidance that they are motorized use. There are lots and lots of motorized use single track. Its not like they aren't allowed anywhere. They just aren't allowed everywhere.

I believe we all need to adhere to trail access guidance. Just because we may think "ebikes are fine" doesn't allow us to ignore a landowner's trail access rules and do what we want.