Oscar Scherer State Park, Nature reserve in Sarasota County, United States.

Oscar Scherer State Park covers about 1,400 acres with pine forests, wetlands, and scrub areas along Florida's Gulf Coast. The park offers around 105 campsites with electrical hookups, about 15 miles of trails, and opportunities for swimming, fishing, and paddling on Lake Osprey.

Elsa Scherer Burrows left her 462-acre South Creek Ranch to become a public park and wildlife sanctuary in memory of her father, Oscar Scherer, a leather-tanning businessman; it opened in summer 1956. In 1992, 922 acres from Palmer Ranch were added, largely through the Nature Conservancy and Preservation 2000 funds, making it the state's first Florida Forever acquisition. A 16.6-acre donation by developer Lee Wetherington in 2008 brought the park to 1,400 acres.

The park bears the name of Oscar Scherer, a leather-tanning businessman honoured by his daughter Elsa Scherer Burrows, who left her 462-acre South Creek Ranch on condition it become a public park and wildlife sanctuary. The Legacy Trail crosses the park along a former railroad route, so cyclists and walkers arrive on the same corridor that once carried trains.

The Legacy Trail, a paved route on a former railroad line, runs through the park and links it with the surrounding area, so cyclists and walkers can enter without a car. The address is 1843 South Tamiami Trail, between Sarasota and Venice near Osprey. Lake Osprey covers 3 acres and South Creek is brackish, so paddlers and anglers meet both freshwater and saltwater species.

The Florida scrub jay is the only bird endemic to Florida, and the park's scrubby flatwoods hold one of the few populations large enough to stay healthy. Jon Thaxton's campaign to protect this habitat led to 922 acres being added from Palmer Ranch in 1992, the state's first Florida Forever acquisition.