Donna Vassallo

Donna Vassallo

Research Associate

Donna works at Eglin A.F.B. to establish and maintain a long-term population for gopher tortoises by monitoring tortoises on base, translocating tortoises from various areas throughout Florida, helping with timber stand removal in the pens, and conducting vegetation surveys. She also helps to relocate tortoises on Eglin Main Base to support the mission. She worked for 12 years with the Longleaf Alliance doing various activities. Her main focus was on red-cockaded woodpeckers and prescribed burns within the GCPEP (Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership) landscape.

She graduated from the University of West Florida in 2005 with a B.A. degree in interdisciplinary Humanities, with a focus in Environmental Humanities.

In her time off she stays busy rescuing and fostering animals.