In April, Walter Harvey posted signs that read, ‘No Trespassing, BLM Mining Claim’ on the perimeter of his land in Coldstream Canyon, and along a National Forest/State Park boundary. According to Don Schmidt, Ranger at Donner Memorial State Park, the signs lack teeth – everyone is allowed on Forest Service land regardless of who owns the mineral rights – but Harvey has a pursued a number of plans in Coldstream in the past, and some are wondering what he might be cooking up next.
Harvey himself was unavailable for comment, but according to Tahoe National Forest Mineral Officer Greg Schimke, Harvey owns the mineral rights to portions of Forest Service land that surround his Coldstream property. However, if Harvey is intending to capitalize on those claims, Schimke hasn’t gotten wind of it.
Though there’s a history of gravel extraction in Coldstream Canyon, Schimke said that the prospects for future aggregate mining in the area are slim. He explained that these days, the Forest Service rarely allows gravel extraction on public lands, and that State Parks, which also owns land in Coldstream, would likely oppose it as well.
Harvey was a stakeholder in the Sunstone Corporation that planned to build a ski resort in Coldstream Canyon in the 1980s. Sunstone folded before any ground was broken, but since then Harvey has worked to open a water bottling operation in Coldstream, and to raise Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in a pond on his property.
Since April, the majority of the ‘No Trespassing’ signs have been taken down.
