Nearly all of the rivers and streams in Bayfield and Ashland counties included in a petition seeking to designate them as pristine failed to make the final cut in a proposal from the state Department of Natural Resources.

The designations provide additional protections for the most highly valued waters in the state, and the DNR recommended designating 40 rivers and streams in the state's northern half as either outstanding or exceptional water resources.

The petition, sponsored by 44 statewide conservation groups, focused on getting designations for 100 rivers and streams, 17 of which flow partly or totally through either Ashland or Bayfield counties.

But only two rivers in the two counties, the Chippewa and Totagatic, made it into the DNR's proposal, which the state Natural Resources Board will consider for adoption after a series of public hearings are held.

A lack of data on the two counties' other rivers and streams justified their exclusion from the proposal, according to the agency's documents.

The agency examined the biological makeup of rivers and streams to determine whether they deserved designation, according to DNR director of the Water Management Bureau, Russ Rasmussen. This examination involved, for example, determining whether species sensitive to pollution lived in the waters, he said.

The DNR should have broadened the criteria for determining the designations, according to a lawyer for the Madison-based Midwest Environmental Advocates, one of the petition's sponsors.

"The (DNR's) approach is perhaps overly conservative by only looking at one set of characteristics that might qualify a river as exceptional or outstanding," the lawyer Andrew Hanson said.

He said the DNR should have also considered other factors, such as recreational value and land use along rivers and streams. The agency should have also considered the importance of rivers and streams to economies on tribal lands, he said.

Rasmussen said examining other factors would have complicated the DNR's job. "We thought that would be too subjective," he said. "It would be more difficult to justify."

Once designated, a body of water is protected from wastewater and other discharges that would negatively impact water quality. The designation also allows for greater scrutiny of high-capacity well construction and development along shore property.

Several rivers and streams excluded from the DNR's proposal flow into the Bad River watershed, an important resource for the Bad River tribe. It's not clear whether the tribe supported the additional protections. Director of the Bad River Natural Resources Department, Ervin Soulier, declined to comment Friday.

In a November 2004 letter to the DNR, the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission stated its support for designating those rivers and streams on ceded territories, which rest outside the boundaries of reservations.

"GLIFWC has consistently maintained that the designation of waters as (outstanding or exceptional water resources) should take into account tribal use of natural resources," the letter states.

Overall, the DNR's assessment was competent but too narrow in scope, Hanson said.

"It's not enough. It's not what we want, but by appearances, I can't say that the DNR is not taking this petition seriously," he said.