Standing at the back of the Carbondale Ranch in Silverado Canyon on a crisp autumn day, most of us would see the pile before us as just what it seems: horse manure, and plenty of it.

But consider what Patrick Mitchell, author, former Earth First activist and clean-water advocate sees when he looks at the same pile, and you begin to understand why some people are labeled “visionaries.”

Mitchell, who hired on at the ranch in June, wants to use the tons of manure produced there to make electricity — a thrumming, thriving methane plant that would burn horse and cow manure to provide power.

“We believe it would produce enough energy to power not only the ranch, but nine other residences,” he said.

And that’s only part of the transformation Mitchell has in store for the ranch — if he can find the funding.

Carbondale is named for an old west town that once thrived on the same site, and Mitchell wants to turn this sleepy 3.5 acres of boarding stables with just under 60 horses into a kind of tourist destination, a portal to the Cleveland National Forest with a focus on the history of Silverado Canyon.

“It really can be a gateway to one of the county’s most famous recreational opportunities,” he says. “This is kind of the last of the western towns.”

But Mitchell is facing a horse race of his own. The ranch’s owner, Dana Judd, has put Carbondale up for sale.

The ranch will go to the highest bidder, not the most visionary, and those who have shown interest so far, Mitchell says, have decidedly different ideas.

“The people who have looked at it want to change it” into a more commercial operation, he said — “green grass, English-style jumpers.”

He wants to see it keep its old-time Orange County style.

“This is another example of a jewel of the county in the Santa Ana Mountains I’d like to see preserved,” he said.

Mitchell lives in Lake Elsinore with his wife and two children, but has a long history tied up with Orange County’s most pressing environmental issues. His wife, Shannon, a Native American, grew up with horses, but Mitchell admits he’s a “novice” in the horse business.

“Get me on a horse and I hang on for dear life,” he said.

In the 1990s, he belonged to Earth First, a “direct action” environmental group, and once chained himself to a fence to protest the building of a toll road through Laguna Canyon.

Since those confrontational days, his environmental efforts have struck a mellower tone. For awhile he worked at the Discovery Museum in Santa Ana, turning a portion of the grounds into a garden of Orange County native habitat.

Later, he was a naturalist for the Santa Ana Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency, and wrote a book about recreational opportunities on the Santa Ana River called “Santa Ana River Guide.”

Now he’s taken his fascination with Orange County history and its native environment to Silverado.

He says he has a sponsor, who wants to remain anonymous, willing to commit just under $1 million to the project. But there’s a catch: Mitchell must find one or more investors to put up a matching million.

He sees the ranch as a recreational and educational experience for visitors, especially children.

“We could give kids from the city of Anaheim and Santa Ana an opportunity to come here and see how things were a long time ago,” Mitchell said.

And the green part of his agenda, he hopes, would set an example for other horse properties, which can run afoul of environmental regulators because manure is difficult to control and can find its way into nearby waterways.

“I’ve fallen in love with the place,” Mitchell said as he walked the grounds this week. “I can sit here and envision what it was like 120 years ago, and what it will be like in 20 years. I just don’t think there are many places like this left.”

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