At the October 19, 2004 meeting of the Barnes Town Board of Supervisors, Carol Tierney (citizen) and Dave Thorson (President of the Barnes/ECL Property Owners Association) presented information on the EWM situation in Barnes. Proposals were made to develop a committee, representative of all Barnes community members/organizations, to seek a grant from the WDNR to address the EWM issue. A motion was made and approved to support the proposals by the Town Board, and after a presentation was made at the October 2004 Barnes Town Board Meeting, the Town agreed to be the Applicant for the AIS (Aquatic Invasive Species) Grant.

During the committee-building process, concerned property representatives from lakes in adjacent Douglas County in the Town of Highland were invited to participate. Since the committee would be a temporary committee with a single-purpose agenda, it was designated as the Barnes EWM Ad Hoc Committee.

After a campaign to find interested participants was conducted by Dave Thorson, an organizational meeting was held in December and Committee officers were elected: Dave Thorson Chairman, Leigh Jordahl Secretary, and Dave Pease Treasurer. Committee members and organizations represented included: (see Table 2)

Table 2