Southern Oregon visitors taking in the natural wonders of the far Upper Rogue River will see their "A" tour altered this summer as the U.S. Forest Service upgrades some of its more popular day-use recreation sites along Highway 62.

If the prospects of pitching a tent, cooking over an open fire and navigating Oregon's outdoors are keeping you home, a statewide program — new to Southern Oregon — makes camping a cinch.

A sliver of Bear Creek near downtown Medford is in the midst of a major makeover, and residents can check it out Saturday, pitch in or feel free to fire off a Tweet about it.

A coalition of public landowners is reaching out to the boating and fishing public as they move forward on a plan to manage public-access points along a 13-mile stretch of the Upper Rogue River.

KLAMATH FALLS — A Harvard graduate student has brought a team of researchers to Upper Klamath Lake in Southern Oregon to try to figure out how grebes manage to walk on water.

During last fall's only local police sweep of motorists violating Oregon's mandatory boat inspections for invasive species, more than two dozen boaters offered a bevy of excuses for why they blew past inspectors on Interstate 5 at the Ashland port of entry.

Pilot Rock, protruding like a hitchhiker's thumb on the Rogue Valley skyline, is our very own facsimile of Devil's Tower. Much of historical value has been written about this local landmark, yet its natural origin is little discussed.

Big-game hunters have until Tuesday night to apply for tags for upcoming controlled hunts, and a breakdown of the numbers shows plenty of hunters are expected to stand in lines at license outlets over the next four days.

Some animal-welfare activists are irate that state wildlife managers are using an Oregon Hunters Association meeting Thursday in Medford as the venue for gathering local comments on whether to tighten wildlife trapping restrictions in 2013.

The U.S. Forest Service is phasing out regular support and maintenance at a string of Jackson County's older, out-of-the-way campgrounds because of low public use, but they will remain accessible as free, pack-in sites beginning this summer.