**Preface to "Growth and Development of Short Rotation Woody Crops for Rural and Urban Applications"**

Woody biomass from short rotation woody crops (SRWCs) plays a substantial role in feedstock production for alternative energy sources throughout the world, thus helping to mitigate climate change driven by excessive use of fossil fuels. Establishment of these biomass production systems presents the basis for more efficient development of renewable energy sources while avoiding impacts to essential ecosystem services (e.g., additional emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere). In addition to these bioenergy-related uses, the increase of degraded land such as industrial brownfields and municipal landfills has prompted the integration of biomass production with phytotechnologies to produce income, sequester carbon, and clean the environment. Recognizing the need for information linking the silviculture of intensive forestry with the provision of ecosystem services, this special issue focuses on the growth and development of SRWCs grown for all types of applications along the rural to urban continuum (i.e., forest buffers, forest health screening, phytoremediation, short rotation coppice, volume production, wastewater reuse).

> **Ronald S. Zalesny, Jr. and Andrej Pilipovi´c** *Editors*

*Editorial* 
