Sylvan Thomas Runkel was born in Jacksonville, IL on August 30, 1906 to C.A. and Myrtie Annabelle Barnett Runkel. He graduated from high school in Moline, IL in 1924 and received his B.S. (1930) in Forestry from Iowa State College (University). He worked as a forester in various capacities including as an extension forester and a forest type mapper until 1933 when he was appointed superintendent of the first Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Iowa, at Albia. In 1934 Runkel began his tenure with the United States Soil Conservation Service (SCS) as a forester technician, becoming a forester and conservationist in 1939.



Runkel served in the United Stated Air Force as a glider pilot during World War II and was wounded in the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy when his glider was shot down. For his wartime efforts he received a purple heart, an air medal, a bronze arrowhead, and a Presidential Unit Citation in 1944.



In 1947 Runkel rejoined the SCS in Ottumwa, Iowa as a soil conservationist, forester, and biologist. In 1952 he was transferred to Des Moines and became the State Biologist. He was appointed by the Governor to the State Preserves Board in 1969 and served for ten years, two as chairman.



After his retirement from the SCS in 1972 Runkel drafted four environmental impact statements for Iowa Watershed projects and co-authored five books: Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands (1979), Wildflowers of the Illinois Woodlands (1979), Wildflowers of the Indiana Woodlands (1994, with Alvin F. Bull), Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: the upper Midwest (1989) and Wildflowers and other plants of Iowa wetlands (1999, with Dean M. Roosa).

Runkel was active in several organizations; he served as president of the Iowa Chapter of the Soil Conservation Society of America, the Iowa Chapter of the Wildlife Society, the Iowa Chapter of the Society of American Foresters, and the Des Moines Audubon Society and was on the Board of Directors of the Iowa Academy of Science for two years. He was also particularly involved with the Boy Scouts of America.

Runkel has received many awards for his dedication to the natural world, including recognition as the Federal Civil Servant of the Year in 1965, the Iowa Society of American Forester's Frudden Award in 1967, election to the Iowa Conservation Hall of Fame in 1973, a fellow of the Soil Conservation Society of America in 1974, a fellow of the Iowa Academy of Science, the Oak Leaf Award from the Nature Conservancy in 1977 and State Conservationist of the Year in 1987.



After promoting conservation for many years by assisting numerous groups with talks, nature walks; slide programs, workshops, and developing a wildlife series for the Iowa Public Television Network Sylvan Runkel's name became synonymous with conservation in Iowa. He was recognized for his particular efforts in the Loess Hills by becoming the namesake for a state preserve in Monona County, Iowa in 1996.

Runkel married Beulah Skeie in 1930 and became a widower in 1949. He married Bernadine Neff in 1952. He has four sons and two daughters.



Sylvan Runkel passed away in 1995.