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ATTITUDES!
Seems to be plenty of that from the Mass mtb contingent on other forums that are more focused on preventing eBike access there than allowing it. I grew up in So. VT., my youngest son was born in Pittsfield, and we had a term for that, Massholes. So many good trails in the area and no reason that legal type eBikes can't co-exist but you do seem up against it. Being proactive as you are doing is the best path. Good luck!
Also PFB is the lobbying/access mouthpiece for the BPSA, Bicycle Product Sales Association, and the BPSA, while in general in favor of eBikes as their board is heavily stacked with industry executives with skin in that game and sales, also runs the risk of alienating the dino bike sector also under their auspices so they are moving forward but at a slow pace allowing the eBikes themselves to be represented as harmless by the consumers that are using them.
As more of a hiker than biker I find the antagonism of some mtb groups to ebikes to be selfishness pure and simple. They have torn up and muddied thousands of trails in NA that were opened up and maintained by hikers, (not talking about technical purpose-made singletracks here, but multi-use trails). Hikers learned to share with mtb’s even though hiking was degraded by bikers (IMO at least) and I and many other walkers have still had decades of bad interactions with aggressive mtb’ers on shared trails, particularly when dogs are along. At least ebikes let some otherwise physically challenged people share more nature and backcountry. It isn’t about the type of bike it’s about the attitude, consideration and sharing? Anyway, I am on the side of ebike access.