MILLINOCKET – A few more inches of rain is helping to improve forest fire conditions, but it’s not enough for Great Northern Paper Inc. to drop its plan to save water in the West Branch of the Penobscot River.

“The situation is stable; we continue to be in a dry situation,” David Preble, GNP’s hydro superintendent, said Wednesday. “Overall our management plan is working.”

Lack of spring rain earlier this season forced Great Northern to reduce water flows to make sure the water in its storage system will last for the rest of the year.

In late April, the company reduced water flows to an average of 2,100 cubic feet per second at McKay Station on the West Branch of the Penobscot River. Typically, the flows run about 3,000 cfs. The company also began notifying various agencies and recreational users.

With less water being released into the West Branch, some camp owners and recreational boaters are seeing more rocks and more shoreline. Depending on the lakes’ topography, newly exposed shoreline ranges from a few feet to more than 100 feet. Stuart Kallgren, who resides on South Twin Lake, has about 15 to 20 more feet of beach, but some of his neighbors who are located near more shallow areas of the lake are seeing 75 feet or more of newly exposed shoreline and rocks.

“Great Northern has done a good job managing water levels considering the record dry spring,” Kallgren said. He warned boaters that their props may catch more exposed rocks than normal.

Erwin and Maureen Bacon, owners of the North Woods Trading Post at Millinocket Lake, don’t see much difference in the lake level.

At their home on Ambajejus Lake, the Bacons are seeing about 15 feet of new shore. But Maureen Bacon said Wednesday it doesn’t affect the beautiful views she enjoys while sipping a cup of coffee from her deck.

“If I was going to complain, I’d complain about the bumpy road,” Bacon said, referring to the 6-mile stretch of state road known locally as the Millinocket Lake Road.

As for white-water rafting, Matt Polstein, owner of the New England Outdoor Center, said Wednesday the decreased flows aren’t affecting his business. His rafting guides and guests like this year’s water flows better than last year’s high flows, he said.

“Our bookings are running above last year, and last year’s were the best we have ever had,” Polstein said.

At Chesuncook Lake, which was created by the Ripogenus Dam impoundment, the water level is 10 feet below normal, leaving additional exposed shorelines of 100 feet or more. Last month, it was 15 feet below normal. Chesuncook Lake is the GNP’s largest storage area.

“Absent significant rain, what people see now in front of their camps is what they should expect for the summer,” said Brian Stetson, GNP’s spokesman and manager of environmental affairs.

Great Northern’s 53-billion-cubic-foot water storage system on the West Branch has only filled to a peak of 37.1 billion cubic feet. Last month, when the runoff ended, it was at 34.28 billion cubic feet.

Company officials said last weekend’s rain helped, but it will take substantial rainfall to bring the company’s 2,100-square-mile water storage system out of the dry range and into the normal range.

“A good hurricane, or a month’s worth of weather like last weekend, is an example of what it would take to rectify this situation,” said Stetson.

“We picked up between 1.5 and 2 billion cubic feet of storage in the entire West Branch watershed as the result of the rainfall this weekend,” Preble said. The hydro superintendent said that was not a lot of water when it’s spread out over a 2,100-square-mile area.

Preble said the timing of the rainfall affects the amount of water collected for storage.

“In the spring before things green up, rainfall is more prone to run off and be collected for storage, but this is the growing season and vegetation is absorbing a great deal of the moisture from the soil,” he said.

Preble said stored water also was lost to evaporation, especially during warm, windy days.

So far this year, Preble said Millinocket has received 7.14 inches of rain compared to its long-term average of 15.69 inches. The rainfall for the year at Pittson, located by Canada Falls at the headwaters of the West Branch, is 10.58 inches compared to the long-term average of 14.13 inches.

In the meantime, company officials are keeping a close eye on water levels. Should the situation change, officials said, the company will re-evaluate its decision and adjust flows accordingly.