In 2022 alone, Brittany Chesser, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service aquatic vegetation management program specialist, College Station, reached more than 1,700 individuals through 2,855 hours of AgriLife extension programming focused on aquatic vegetation and pond management.

“Aquatic vegetation is often overlooked, but it plays a part in a lot of resource management—whether you’re dealing specifically with water, or you’re a rangeland or wildlife manager,” Chesser said. “Water is a huge component across the state, and that’s what drives me in this position.” 

In addition to the development and delivery of diverse AgriLife Extension programming, Chesser also processed and interpreted 45 water quality reports for landowners as the lead diagnostic scientist at the Texas A&M Aquatic Diagnostic Lab; provided on-site water quality consultations across Texas; managed the Texas A&M AquaPlant website; served as the primary author on three Extension publications, as well as one technical report; managed more than $37,000 in grants; and taught the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management’s aquatic vegetation management course while also serving as a guest lecturer in a number of other departmental courses.

“Brittany is an excellent teacher—her course evaluations are very impressive, and the students speak highly of the course,” said Todd Sink, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management and Texas A&M AgriLife aquaculture extension specialist. “In addition to teaching, her service list is extremely long.”

This service includes but is not limited to, leadership in the state and national Aquatic Plant Management Society. Chesser has also been invited to speak at an international symposium held this year in Belgium.

Further, Chesser recently secured a grant from Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education allowing her to develop and implement a hybrid curriculum on aquatic habitat management for agriculture professionals.

“Participants included individuals from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas A&M AgriLife county agents, river authorities, as well as several large agricultural producers,” Chesser said. “This programming was made possible through a lot of collaboration, and we’re very happy with the feedback that we received.”

Chesser holds a Bachelor of Science in natural resources from Delaware State University and a Master of Science in wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture from Mississippi State University. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in rangeland, wildlife and fisheries management at Texas A&M. In addition to a variety of water quality analyses, her doctoral research will focus on improving the Texas A&M AquaPlant website by developing a guidance system that incorporates site-specific factors to assist landowners and natural resource professionals in developing aquatic management plans.

“I really enjoy helping landowners,” she said. “It’s satisfying to give them the tools and information to get their pond in a healthy state so they can enjoy their water—whether it’s feeling safe that their livestock are using the water or that their kids are safe swimming in it.”