They analyzed which forests have the most potential to sequester carbon, are least vulnerable to drought and fire, and also provide valuable habitat for endangered species.

Many of the forests that hit that trifecta are along the Oregon and Washington coast and in the Cascade and Olympic mountains.

“The amount of carbon per acre that they take up is as high or higher than tropical forests,” said Beverly Law, a professor of global change biology and terrestrial system sciences at Oregon State University and co-author of the study. “Those are really what I call the land sinks that are so critical to try and make sure we preserve them.”

The study, published Dec. 4 in the journal Ecological Applications, finds that not logging high-value forests would be equivalent to halting six to eight years of the region’s fossil fuel emissions.