PROVO — A truck bed full of lifeless carp might not be a pretty sight, but to the newly ratified Utah Lake Commission, the glassy-eyed fish are a symbol.

In fact, as Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. ceremoniously signed a document inside Utah Lake State Park headquarters Friday, making the Utah Lake Commission a state-sanctioned reality, the fish were right outside, a reminder of one of the tasks the commission will have to tackle.

"I knew things were getting pretty darn serious when (Provo Mayor Lewis Billings) came into my office and he said, 'We run the risk, in the not-too-distant future, of having the carp as the symbol of our city,"' Huntsman joked to an audience of city dignitaries who attended the signing on Friday. "There was probably a look of seriousness in his eyes, but I know he didn't mean it."

Reducing the number of carp in Utah Lake is one issue the Utah Lake Study Committee — now known as the Utah Lake Commission — has discussed during the three years it's taken for the group to become an official entity. But the commission's overall goal is to bridge a gap between all of the different parties who have a stake in the lake — and work together for the betterment of the area.

During the recent legislative session, the Senate and House approved HCR1, a House Concurrent Resolution that allows Utah's Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Environmental Quality and the Central Utah Water Conservancy District to participate in the commission. Huntsman signed the resolution on Friday, as Rep. Stephen Clark, R-Provo, and Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, voiced their support for the committee.

"All I know is this, we don't get things done in this state unless we're all coming together around a common vision and a common set of goals," Huntsman said. "I think all of those who have thought about the future of this lake probably could have told anybody in this room that we're not going to make much progress until such time as we're all coming together around this with a common vision and a common sense of destiny."

In addition to HCR1, local cities and the County Commission have also agreed to participate in an interlocal agreement to form the lake commission. All of the participating entities, including state-funded departments, will contribute financially to the commission in order to vote.

So far, officials in Genola, Lindon, Lehi, Orem, Provo, Springville, Mapleton, Saratoga Springs, American Fork and the Utah County Commission have committed to the new panel. Leaders in Vineyard, Woodland Hills and Pleasant Grove are still considering joining the commission.

"What we are doing today has been attempted on other occasions for entire decades without success," Billings told the audience. "Any one of us alone, I think, would not be successful in doing what has to be done, but all of us working together, I believe, without question, will."