The team of photographer Rick Bowmer, reporter Sam Metz, Climate team photo editor Alyssa Goodman, Deputy Director for Digital News Darrell Allen, News Editor and video journalist Brady McCombs and animation producer Panagiotis Mouzakis collaborated on the most comprehensive coverage yet by a major news organization on a shrinking natural wonder, the Bonneville Salt Flats in northwest Utah near the Nevada border.
The salt flats has long lured speed-obsessed racers and filmmakers, and, more recently, social media fans looking for a spectacular photo, but its future is in peril because the salt has been thinning for decades. When a Utah state agency launched yet another study to assess what was happening at the salt flats, AP’s Salt Lake City bureau recognized an opportunity explore the state of one the American West’s most unique sites.
Bowmer led the way by suggesting the story, then spending countless hours documenting the look and feel of the flats. His photos and drone video elevated the entire package, the striking still images meriting an additional photo gallery.
A Utah state geologist collects water samples at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah, Sept. 13, 2022. The glistening white salt of the world-famous flats is shrinking near the Utah-Nevada line.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
A visitor to Bonneville Salt Flats poses for photographs near Wendover, Utah, Oct. 8, 2022.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
Jeremiah Bernau, a Utah State geologist, holds salt crystals at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah, Aug. 29, 2022.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
The Intrepid Potash canal is shown at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah, Aug. 29, 2022. Potash, a potassium-based salt used throughout the world primarily as a fertilizer, is extracted mainly from prehistoric lakebeds like Bonneville’s. Some contend the potash extraction is causing the thinning of the Bonneville’s salt layer, but scientists say that there’s no hard evidence that simply returning briny water will reverse the effects of extraction and maintain the salt flats.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
A visitor takes a photograph of the sunrise at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah, Sept. 19, 2022.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
State of Utah Department of Natural Resources geologists Paul Inkenbrandt, left, and Jeremiah Bernau walk along the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah, Aug. 29, 2022. Despite numerous studies, there’s no clear answer on how to stabilize or reverse the shrinking of Bonneville’s salt layer.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
The salt surface of the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah, Aug. 29, 2022.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
Visitors pose for a photograph at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah, Oct. 7, 2022.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
A hot rod is driven along the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah, Aug. 13, 2016. Racers were returning to the famous salt flats after wet weather and rough salt canceled racing for the previous two years.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
Cars form a line near the race track at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah, Aug. 13, 2016.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
Racers gather at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah, Aug. 13, 2016.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
A visitor to Bonneville Salt Flats poses for a photograph near Wendover, Utah., Oct. 9, 2022.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
Metz wrote a thoroughly reported, reader-friendly story that summarizes why the flats are shrinking and what is at stake if researchers can’t find a solution. Brady McCombs contributed by shooting and editing video and he shared a byline on the story. And Goodman created an engaging stacked presentation to showcase the outstanding visuals.
Allen and Panagiotis teamed up with Metz and McCombs on animated videos showing how the salt is thinning and its effect on the overall salt flats footprint. Sophia Eppolito and AP’s digital team contributed posts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, with threads full of excerpts, drone footage and the graphics.
Elements of the package played widely with AP members and customers, and the story scored the highest reader engagement for all AP stories on Nov. 2, calling attention to a recognized but little-understood environmental problem.