- Oscar Scherer State Park
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Oscar Scherer State Park IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Location Sarasota County, Florida, USA Nearest city Sarasota, Florida Coordinates 27°10′30″N 82°27′58″W / 27.175°N 82.46611°WCoordinates: 27°10′30″N 82°27′58″W / 27.175°N 82.46611°W Area 1,400 acres (5.7 km2) Established 1956 Governing body Florida Department of Environmental Protection 
Oscar Scherer State Park is a Florida State Park located between Sarasota and Venice, near Osprey, amidst the heavily-developed southwest Florida coast. The address is 1843 South Tamiami Trail. There are more than 130,000 visitors a year.
Contents
History
The park's genesis was in 1955, when Elsa Scherer Burrows, owner of the 462-acre (1.87 km2) South Creek Ranch, died. Her will left the ranch to the state to form a park. It was to be dedicated to the memory of her father, Oscar Scherer, the developer of a shoe leather dyeing process in 1872. A year later, the park was ready and opened to visitors.
Thirty years after that, realtor and environmentalist Jon Thaxton started work to protect the neighboring Florida Scrub Jay territory. In 1992 this resulted in 922 acres (3.73 km2) being added from the adjacent Palmer Ranch that had been among the holdings of Bertha Honoré Palmer, in large part due to the Nature Conservancy, public support, and the use of Preservation 2000 funds, expanding the park's size to 1,384 acres (5.60 km2).
In September 2008, in recognition of National Public Lands Day, Lee Wetherington, a local developer and long-time park supporter, donated an additional 16.6 acres (0.067 km2) of land to the park, including the buffer property adjacent to the Willowbend subdivision (a Wetherington development), bringing the total park size to 1,400 acres (5.7 km2).[1]
Biology
Flora
The habitats that are part of the park are pine flatwoods, scrubby flatwoods and the hardwood hammock surrounding South Creek. A variety of other plants exist within the park, like blueberry, persimmon, wild grape, cabbage palm, coontie, wax myrtle, prickly pear cacti, mangrove trees and giant leather ferns (Acrostichum danaeifolium).
Fauna
Land and aquatic inhabitants include bobcats, rabbits, foxes, North American River Otters, American Alligators, Eastern Indigo Snakes (Drymarchon couperi), Gopher Tortoises and Gopher Frogs.
The park is one of the few places in the state where there are enough scrubby flatwoods for the Florida Scrub Jay to maintain a healthy population. Other birds that can be seen in the park are Bald Eagles, Ospreys, warblers, woodpeckers, egrets, and the Great Blue and Little Blue Heron.
The 3-acre (12,000 m2) freshwater Lake Osprey has bream, bluegill, largemouth bass and channel catfish, among others. South Creek is brackish, so it can contain saltwater fish.
Recreational activities
The park has such amenities as beaches, bicycling, boating, canoeing, fishing, hiking, kayaking, picnicking, snorkeling, swimming and wildlife viewing. It also has an interpretive exhibit and visitor center.
References
External links
Media related to Oscar Scherer State Park at Wikimedia Commons- Oscar Scherer State Park at Florida State Parks
- Oscar Scherer State Park at the University of Florida Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants
- Elsa Scherer Burrows at the Office of Cultural & Historical Programs
- Friends of Oscar Scherer State Park
Categories:- IUCN Category V
- Florida state parks
- Beaches of Florida
- Parks in Sarasota County, Florida
- Protected areas established in 1956
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