A wildlife refuge specialist steps out of an air boat onto the Salton Sea shore, which is littered with dead tilapia. . (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)
Tom Anderson, a wildlife biologist for the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Preserve, rides on an airboat. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)
Sandpipers search for food in the mud on the shore of Mullet Island in the Salton Sea. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)
A tilapia skeleton rests on a floor of barnacle shards on the shore of the Salton Sea. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)
Over 10,000 double-crested cormorants breed on Mullet Island in the Salton Sea. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)
