Relieved rafting companies hopeful for summer season

MILLINOCKET – With talk of drought this spring, the 90,000 people who raft the rapids on Maine’s rivers each summer have one question on their minds: Will there be enough water?

Increasingly, Matt Polstein, owner of New England Outdoor Center in Millinocket, is able to answer in the affirmative.

“If we have anywhere near normal rainfall in May, we’ll be way beyond this problem,” he said Monday.

The West Branch of the Penobscot River and its associated lakes and ponds were among the areas hardest hit by the summer drought. Chesuncook Lake, one of Maine’s largest, was down by as much as 25 feet of water as this spring began.

But in front of the Great Northern Energy Co.’s Ripogenus Dam, which forms Chesuncook, more than a dozen white-water rafting companies are gearing up to begin their summer season.

The $15 million rafting industry on the Penobscot, Dead and Kennebec rivers sprung up as a byproduct of hydropower generation and relies on regular withdrawals from lakes and ponds for its rushing water, said Wende Gray, spokeswoman for Raft Maine, a lobbying group that represents a majority of the state’s rafting outfitters.

A few weeks ago, rafting operators met with representatives from Great Northern Energy, which purchased Great Northern Paper’s hydropower operations, to discuss how best to manage the limited water on the West Branch of the Penobscot River.

“We will look at this as it develops,” said Jeff Martin, general manager of Great Northern Energy. “We just don’t know what Mother Nature will bring.”

Great Northern Energy decided to cancel major water releases from Ripogenus Dam in May in an attempt to refill Chesuncook Lake and other upstream water bodies, which suffered as energy production continued during last summer’s drought.

The first water release at Ripogenus is scheduled for June 7, which would push the first trips six weeks back from the traditional late April start date for the rafting season.

But less than 10 percent of the annual rafting business occurs in May, and refilling the lakes will guarantee that water is available when the busy rafting season is under way in June, July and August, Polstein said.

“We tried to create an environment where, if we had little rain and runoff, we still would have water for the summer rafting season,” he said.

Most summers, the average flow on the Penobscot River varies between 1,800 and 2,600 cubic feet per second, Martin said.

Since September, the flow has been kept at less than 1,000 cubic feet of water per second in an attempt to conserve the resource. This winter marked the most drastic flow reduction in 25 years, he said.

The flow reduction has succeeded, however. Despite a lack of snow, water levels behind the dam have risen to several feet higher than at this time last year, Polstein said.

“The improved situation has a lot to do with the fact that they’ve been managing the water,” he said. “It actually put us in a better position than last year at this time.”

This month, several additional inches of rain already have fallen on the West Branch watershed. As the drought was beginning last April, the entire month’s tally didn’t reach an inch of precipitation.

Last week’s rains gave rafting companies further encouragement. Next week, a second meeting with Great Northern Energy likely will be convened, and at least one May water release may be scheduled, Polstein said.

Despite the rosy outlook, however, the rafting industry could take a hit this summer as a result of lingering drought concerns, outfitters said.

Since Gov. Angus King announced his intention to pursue federal emergency funds to combat drought conditions, rafting companies have struggled against the perception that rafting cannot occur in drought conditions.

“We’re seeing it in our bookings, and we’re seeing it in the comments people make,” Polstein said. “There’s a perception problem.”