RANGELEY — Naturalist Warren Balgooyen will lead a program on ferns from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 11, at the Wilhelm Reich Museum on Dodge Pond Road. Balgooyen has presented many programs in the past and has been instrumental in designing many of the trails at Orgonon.

Balgooyen is a Colby graduate with a degree in biology. He was employed at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens from 1963 to 1983. In 1983, he became a freelance naturalist and landscaper in Maine. He is a board member of several conservation and wildlife groups and runs a small nursery at his home in Norridgewock. He also writes a column for “The Town Line,” a weekly published in South China, and contributes to “Birdwatchers Digest.”

The program will kick off a series of eight different Sunday nature programs at the Wilhelm Reich Museum. The programs are free of charge. Participants should meet at the outdoor classroom, near the museum, and should be prepared to go walking on the trails.

Attendees should wear proper shoes and clothing, bring water, materials for taking notes, cameras and insect protection. A guidebook on the topic presented may also be useful. Brochures detailing the workshop schedule and maps of the trail system are available at the museum office and other locations throughout Rangeley.

The Observatory building, which details the life and work of physician/scientist Wilhelm Reich, is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, during July and August. In September, the Observatory is open from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $6 for adults and children under 12 are free.

The nature programs are funded by individual donors and a grant from the Wing-Benjamin Trust.

For more information, contact Bonnie Clark at 778-6637 or the museum at 864-3443.

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