The Sylva Trophy is donated by Patrick Evelyn, a direct descendent of John Evelyn, author of the seminal 17th century “Sylva or a Discourse of Forest-trees and the propagation of Timber” and is awarded annually.

Prof Evans was formerly professor of forestry at Imperial College, and before that the Forestry Commission’s chief research officer at Alice Holt Research Station.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and a past president and has written, or was a principal editor of, many technical books on forestry and tree related subjects. 

He was one of the three principal editors of the Encyclopaedia of Forest Science (Elsevier 2004). Internationally, Prof Evans has chaired UN Intersessional conferences on the Future of Planted Forests, Chile and New Zealand, and in 1997 he was appointed OBE for Services to Forestry and the Third World.

He has a long-term interest in the silviculture of broadleaved woodland in the UK and owns woodland in Hampshire.