378 of maintaining (or not maintaining) these trees. On the surface, this comparison may seem rela- tively straightforward. However, the long life span of trees can make it difficult to quantify the impact of maintenance efforts on tree health and structural integrity. In order to address this challenge while highlighting the importance of efforts to quantify the benefit of tree care, the International Society of Arboriculture Science and Research Committee hosted a summit, The Costs of Not Maintaining Trees (CNMT) in Tampa, Florida, U.S., from 18–20 March 2015. The objectives of the CNMT research summit were to: 1. Develop consensus on the most pressing needs for research on the costs and benefits of urban trees, and 2. Identify opportunities for large-scale col- laborative research projects that help arbor- ists and urban forest managers understand how to optimize urban tree maintenance and management throughout a tree’s life cycle. With regard to the second objective, two specific projects were identified—a retroactive study of past maintenance practices for communities invento- ried by the same contractor, and a multi-location, planned cohort study. These are explored in greater detail in the discussion section of this paper. METHODS Location The CNMT symposium and summit was held at the Patel College of Global Sustainability at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, U.S. The research summit summarized in this paper was held Friday, 20 March 2015, following two days of talks by the invited panel members. Expert Panel Selection As with past International Society of Arboriculture– supported research symposia and summits, Koeser et al.: The Cost of Not Maintaining Trees titioners with past success in demonstrating the value of tree care in their positions, met and discussed the state of research related to urban forest costs and benefits. In addi- tion to acknowledging their contributions to research and urban tree care, members on the expert panel were selected in an at- tempt to balance the following perspectives: • International points of view: North Ameri- can/non-North American • Sectorally representative: Arboriculture and urban forestry (commercial/municipal/utility) • Holistic costs and benefits: Environmental/ economic/social • Basic to applied science user: Academic/ practitioner Delphi Technique The Delphi technique (Hsu and Sandford 2007; Yousuf, 2007; Meijering et al. 2015) was adopted to help build consensus on research priori- ties among the panel members prior to the summit. The Delphi technique is a means of structuring communication (e.g., use of sur- veys) within a group of experts in order to increase participation and work toward consen- sus on a given topic (Yousuf 2007). The first two rounds of questions occurred as an online sur- vey, administered in the six weeks prior to the event. A cover letter (email) accompanied each of the two surveys. Up to two reminders were sent following the initial contact for each sur- vey. Both pre-surveys had 100% response rates. Round 1: Open-Ended Questionnaire On 29 January 2015, an open-ended questionnaire was sent to all panel members. For this first round of the Delphi process (i.e., the first online survey), participants were encouraged to answer the follow- ing questions with keywords or short statements: the CNMT event was timed with the completion of a related, contracted literature review (Hauer et al. 2015; Vogt et al. 2015). The results of this litera- ture review were used, in part, to select an expert panel of speakers (n = 13). This panel, which in- cluded active researchers in the field and prac- ©2016 International Society of Arboriculture 1. What are the core components of urban tree maintenance? 2. What are the key research questions that serve as the foundation for this summit (e.g., where should new research be focused, what persisting research gaps exist, what core assumptions/dogma require investigation)?
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