Forestry workers in central Newfoundland are asking the provincial government to take back cutting rights from the plagued AbitibiBowater paper mill immediately in order to stay in business.

About 250 foresters and 450 mill workers will lose their jobs when the AbitibiBowater newsprint paper mill in Grand Falls-Windsor shuts down in the new year, but some of those workers say they have a plan to keep their operations in business.

Contractor Chad Wilson, who operates under an AbitibiBowater timber licence deep in the woods of central Newfoundland, is urging the provincial government to transfer Abitibi's cutting rights to the area's loggers.

AbitibiBowater has a deal with the province to harvest timber on Crown land.

Wilson's family-run company, Wilson Contracting, employs 35 people and Wilson said he can keep the business going if his company had timber rights.

Wilson said he believes there is enough demand for logs from integrated sawmillers to keep his company and others like it, going long after Abitibi Bowater is gone.

"Hopefully, as early of this week, we'll be talking to different members, and see what their thought is on it and where we can go from there," Wilson said of his plans to begin discussions of his plan with government representatives.

Harry Noel, a mechanic with Wilson Contracting, said if the government doesn't intervene, he's facing an uncertain future.

"[I] don't sleep so well at night; it's got to be one everybody's mind," Noel said. "I know it's on my mind 90 per cent of the time while I'm working. What am I going to do? Where I'm going to go?"

Government seeking advice

After months of speculation, AbitibiBowater confirmed fears in central Newfoundland by announcing Dec. 4 that it would close its newsprint mill in Grand Falls-Windsor in the first quarter of 2009.

The same day the company announced the closure, the province's deputy premier said the government would attempt to expropriate AbitibiBowater's hydro and timber rights.

Kathy Dunderdale said if AbitibiBowater isn't going to operate a mill, it probably shouldn't get to keep existing power rights or nearby timber rights.

AbitibiBowater owns the Star Lake hydroelectric generating station, and sells some of the energy it produces to the Newfoundland and Labrador grid.

The government is seeking internal and external legal advice about whether or not it can strip those rights away from the company.

In the meantime, Human Resources Minister Susan Sullivan said the province is working on a recovery plan and setting up a task force to diversify the local economy, which has historically been dependent on natural resource industries.