PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — "Yesterday I hooked on this grouper," Johnny Morris, outdoorsman and CEO of Bass Pro Shops said as he told some fish stories in Putnam County last week. The event was a press conference, at which the state gave the small town of Welaka a $3.5 million grant to build a new wastewater treatment plant.
It’s in and around that same small town that Bass Pro Shops continues to buy land.
Based on research on the county’s property appraiser’s website, First Coast News has calculated Bass Pro Shops -- and entities tied to the company’s headquarters – now own more than 5,200 acres of land in southern Putnam county.
One chunk of that land is close to Satsuma. The second chunk of land runs from the St. Johns River by Welaka, east to Highway 17.
At 5,200 acres, that’s more than all of the four Florida Disney World theme parks combined, which is 950 acres. Granted, the entire Disney World resort, including all of its hotels, is much bigger.
So what does Bass Pro Shops want to do with all this land in Putnam County?
The company owns outdoors themed resorts across the country, including Big Cedar Lodge in the Ozarks. That resort totals 4,600 acres. That is still a smaller amount of land than what Bass Pro Shops owns in Putnam right now.
Morris has had a fishing lodge in Welaka for decades.
However, even at last week’s press conference, he did not revealing much of his plans for Putnam County.
Morris said, "We don't have any real big particular plans, but when we develop something or have a wish list, we'll be sure to work with everybody and be part of the community. And hopefully, whatever we end up with, if we do something, everybody would be proud of it.”