audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - The Salton Sea, California's largest lake by volume, exists entirely by an engineering accident in the early 1900's. Low down in the Colorado Desert nestled in the Imperial and Coachella Valleys is the Salton Sea. The Mexican frontier calls to the south and the oasis of Palm Springs sits to the north. Surrounded by mountains to the east and the west, the Salton Sea is an accidental manmade geographic feature quite unmatched anywhere in the US. The lake is the result of mankind's folly and arrogance, a quest for domination over the natural landscape. A century after its formation, the Salton Sea's slow death has accelerated with drought and changes in water usage and management. With California's current extreme drought, the effects are even more pronounced. Towns along the shore have suffered economically. 'Worsening air quality and the loss of valuable ecological habitat - combined with diminished recreational revenue and property devaluation' are the immediate threats, according to a study released by the Pacific Institute. Preserving the troubled Salton Sea will not be easy, but simply letting it deteriorate could cost even more.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 16, 2011 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - A dock amid receding shoreline near the Imperial Wildlife Refuge, Wister Unit, at the south end of the Salton Sea.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

May 29, 2011 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - BUCK and NAOMI GRIFFIS watch the sunset in their golf cart at Bombay Beach on the eastern shore of the Salton Sea. Naomi is Buck's daughter, who was visiting her father in Bombay Beach.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

June 5, 2012 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Dead palm trees at the former site of the Salton City Bay Club.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Aug. 17, 2011 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Abandoned cafe on Highway 111 near the Imperial and Riverside County lines. This restaurant has been abandoned since at least 2007. The RV park arrow still points to a park in operation.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Oct. 6, 2011 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - DONNA SOLEM has been going to the Fountain of Youth Spa every winter for the last 50 years. Her parents first came to the spot after World War II. Solem is originally from the St. Paul, Minnesota area.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

April 3, 2012 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Mobile home in Salton Sea Beach at dawn.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Jan. 12, 2013 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Long exposure images of remnants of a pier at Bombay Beach in the section that flooded in the early 1980s.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 10, 2011 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - NORM NIVER, resident of Salton City. Niver has been a champion for the restoration and preservation of the Salton Sea, and has been featured in various media and documentaries on the subject. Niver lives in the Riviera Keys neighborhood and makes sushi from the Tilapia found in the salty water.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 8, 2011 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - A dead fish in a small flood channel cut into otherwise rock-hard dirt in the Riviera Keys subdivision of Salton City.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 24, 2013 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Dead Tilapia at night under the Milky Way at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area headquarters near North Shore. The entire circumference of the Salton Sea has a thick sheet of dead fish, mostly Tilapia that are like rings in a bathtub, showing the shrinking of the sea and the multiple fish die-offs.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 17, 2013 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Dead Tilapia on the shore of the Salton Sea near Salton Sea Beach at sunrise.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

March 25, 2013 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - NORM NIVER with his dock on Riviera Keys in the background. The dock is no longer at sea level and has begun to collapse from lack of use over the past few years. Norm's wife, Connie, tore the dock down in October 2013.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Oct. 15, 2013 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - A dead tree at the south end of the Salton Sea near Red Hill Marina, 2013. In 2007, the same tree was underwater and used by birds for nesting. Today coyotes and other predators can access the tree due to the Salton Sea drying out. The birds have since moved on.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

April 3, 2012 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Stencilled graffiti reads 'Save The Sea' on the side of an abandoned garage in Salton Sea Beach at sunrise.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Jan. 11, 2013 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Salvation Mountain, near Niland. Salvation Mountain was the creation of Leonard Knight, who recently passed away.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

June 16, 2011 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Abandoned house at Salton Sea Beach. This home and others nearby are popular with photographers driving through the area, and has been repeatedly vandalized and spray painted by taggers and tweakers alike.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Oct. 7, 2013 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Newly planted field being irrigated at night, Vista Santa Rosa, Unincorporated Riverside County. The flat land surrounding the Salton Sea is largely used for agriculture.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Oct. 8, 2013 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - FRED GARBUTT, proprietor and owner of the International Banana Museum on Highway 111 near North Shore. Garbutt opened the business in the last year after purchasing a banana-themed collection. Garbutt acknowledges the wacky nature of his business, but said 'as long as you come give me a dollar I don't give a fuck.'
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Oct. 7, 2013 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Date palms under a starry night near Indio.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Oct. 16, 2013 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Workers in a field near the town of Thermal working in the early morning hours, seen from the air.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

March 24, 2013 - Salton Sea, California, U.S. - Art installation at the East Jesus art community, a collective of artists living in Slab City, near Niland. East Jesus is on the homesite of Container Mike, a Slab City resident who died of a heart attack.
© Stuart Palley/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press