The reservoir provides non-motor boating as well as many recreation facilities that include a swimming beach, picnic areas, a model airplane runway, and eight baseball diamonds, all near the town of Medford. Emigrant Lake, close to Ashland, is the location of the beautiful and popular Emigrant Lake Park, administered by Jackson County Parks. This park has overnight camping, picnic areas, swimming beaches, and play fields. The lake is popular for water skiing. Hyatt and Howard Prairie Lakes are surrounded by the pine and fir forests of the Cascade Mountains.
Resorts provide groceries, boat rentals, gasoline, and trailer hookups for campers.
At Hyatt Lake, the Bureau of Land Management has constructed a campground and day use area that spread out through the trees near the dam. At Howard Prairie Lake, Jackson County Parks has constructed six campgrounds, one each for specifically organized groups, youth groups, and horseback riders, and the other three for the general public. Boating and water skiing are especially good at Howard Prairie Lake. All the project reservoirs provide habitat for fish. Dry Creek was an intermittent stream that could not support fish before Agate Dam was built.