Jon Randolph, left, pulls up milfoil Wednesday from a cove in Thompson Lake in Oxford as Alex Bernady waits in a kayak to exchange collection bags with him. The two work for Southern Maine Invasive Aquatic Management and spend 40 hours a week collecting the invasive plants. The program has been going on for over 10 years and a half million pounds of the pants have been collected by hand by divers, reducing the invasive weeds from an area of 16 acres down to less than an acre of the dense plants. The team removes around 20 bags a day, weighing around 30 pounds each. Bernady says he enjoys working with a great team of people and being outside paddling and diving. The success of the program means a lot to him. “It’s a huge win,” Bernady said. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal