“What Can Be Saved?”: The butterfly on a bomb range

By ​Seth Borenstein, Sarah Blake Morgan, Bob Bukaty, Nicky Forster, Federica Narancio

Seth Borenstein, Sarah Blake Morgan, Bob Bukaty, Nicky Forster, Federica Narancio for the 10th installment of the “What Can Be Saved?” series, an in-depth package on the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The all-formats team went to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to spend time with researchers working to protect two species: a rare butterfly that receives very little money from the U.S. government, and a woodpecker that gets much more, illustrating inconsistencies in the act. The team produced a visually rich package with stunning images of the creatures and scientists, a compelling minidocumentary that pushed total views or the AP series past 1 million and an interactive that allowed readers to explore which endangered species live in their neighborhoods.