The National Research Council will organize a public workshop to convene a variety of researchers and federal agency representatives, and feature invited presentations and discusions to share information and perspectives related to the following types of issues:

-- current capabilities to characterize and quantify the benefits provided by trees (and perhaps other elements of green infrastructure) in a metropolitan area – such as air and water pollution mitigation; carbon sequestration; urban heat island mitigation; reduced energy demand from shading of buildings. (The discussions may also consider benefits related to improved human health and well-being).
-- key gaps in our understanding, and our ability to model, measure, and monitor such services; and improvements that may be needed to allow tree planting to be sanctioned as a 'creditable’ strategy in official regulatory air/water pollution control programs;
-- current capabilities for assigning quantitative economic value to these services, and strategies for improving these capabilities;

-- the challenges of planning/managing urban forests in a manner that optimizes multiple ecosystem services simultaneously (e.g. synergies, trade-offs in selecting tree species, determining planting locations);

-- opportunities for enhancing collaboration and coordination on these issues among federal agencies, academic researchers, and other stakeholders.

The workshop will be planned by an ad hoc committee with expertise in a range of relevant disciplines, working with NRC staff. The committee will develop the workshop agenda, select and invite speakers and discussants, and moderate the discussion. An individually authored workshop summary will be prepared by a designated rapporteur.