Longleaf pine forests that once blanketed the Southeast could play a key role in combating climate change, conservationists and scientists said Thursday.

The weather-resistant pines can withstand the increasing droughts, wildfires and intense storms that climate models predict, said a report by the National Wildlife Federation and two conservation groups, America's Longleaf and the Longleaf Alliance.

At the same time, climate change could give forest landowners new income sources by locking up carbon that, in gas form, contributes to warming.

"We need new tools to deal with the effects of climate change in the South, and the good news is that bringing back the iconic longleaf pine ecosystem is one of the best tools available," said the federation's Eric Palola, co-author of the report.

The longleaf's fall has been as breathtaking as its former dominance. The trees once covered 90 million acres from Virginia to eastern Texas, but now grow on less than 3 percent of their historic range.

The pines were valued for the quality of their timber, which was used in construction and in making turpentine. That led to over-cutting. Faster-growing loblolly pine used to make paper and other products has taken over much of the longleaf's former range.

Climate change, experts say, could make the longleaf a star again. America's Longleaf launched an initiative in March to expand the existing 3.4 million acres to 8 million acres over the next 15 years.

The tree is adapted to thrive in extreme temperatures, poor soils and amid wildfires, which help eliminate its competitor plants. When fires raged through 30 square miles near Myrtle Beach, S.C., last April, the report said, areas dominated by the thick-barked longleafs were largely undamaged and even rejuvenated.

Longleaf forests could find new importance, the report's authors and others say, as the United States attempts to control the releases of carbon dioxide that are linked to global warming.

Forests, including trees, roots and soils, store vast amounts of carbon, keeping heat-trapping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Longleaf forests retain more carbon than loblolly pines do.

If Congress regulates carbon dioxide, the report said, owners of longleaf forests could benefit by selling so-called offsets that help minimize the gas's effects. Instead of installing pollution controls, an industry might pay forest owners for the environmental benefit of their trees.

"In certain physiographic settings across the South, there will be no better way to accomplish this than restoration of longleaf pine ecosystems," said John King, a tree physiologist at N.C. State University.

Restoring those forests would also benefit a wide range of rare species that rely on longleaf ecosystems, such as the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker found in the Carolinas. As longleaf pine forests declined, more than 30 plant and animal species that live there have been listed as endangered.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with landowners to preserve their longleaf. The agency recently approved $839,000 in stimulus grants for four restoration projects in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

Some owners want to improve quail hunting, said Charleston-based biologist Joe Cockrell, while others enjoy trees aesthetic qualities.

"Now we have a new reason," he said. "We can tell them that these ecosystems can sequester carbon, and we'll be emphasizing that."