Elgin is becoming part of the Fabulous Fox Water Trail, adding four city waterway sites to the 202-mile route that starts in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, and ends where the Fox joins the Illinois River in Ottawa.

Trout Park River’s Edge, Slade Avenue Park, Veterans Memorial Park and the Kimball Street dam will become part of the trail under a resolution approved by the Elgin City Council.

The council focused on the river while discussing the city’s future during a recent retreat, discussing ways Elgin could use it to enhance what it offers to residents and visitors.

“This (Fabulous Fox Water) trail could be part of that as well,” Mayor David Kaptain said at the meeting. “But I think at this time the city and the council need to start thinking about long-range planning of what the Fox River is going to look like.”

Under debate right now is the fate of Kimball Street dam, Kaptain said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently received a $250,000 federal grant to complete the Fox River Habitat and Connectivity Study, which includes looking at dam removal.

While the city hasn’t taken a position on the dam issue, “I think we need to be prepared and have a vision,” the mayor said. “We need to have a little better handle on what the Fox River will look like.”

Kaptain recommended Councilman Dustin Good spearhead a committee to review information from the Army Corp so the city can begin looking at what the waterway could be as it relates to Elgin , the mayor said.

“(Joining the Fabulous Fox Water Trail) is a good segue into that,” Kaptain said.

In 2015, Wisconsin and Illinois partnered with the National Park Service to create the National Water Trails System. In addition to connecting people to waterways for recreational purposes, they also want to strengthen conservation and restoration efforts by bringing together federal, state and local entities and nonprofit organizations, according to park service website.

“In establishing a national system of exemplary water trails, these trails have become a catalyst for protecting and restoring the health of local waterways and surrounding lands,” the website says.

The chief goal is to provide education, protection and engagement so that communities along the river join in the preservation, protection and promotion of the 2,648-mile waterway, which spans eight counties and passes by prairies, forests, farms and bluffs.

Each of the four Elgin sites that are becoming part of trail system will have posted signs with information on mileage to local sites and directions to facilities, restaurants and river launches.

They also will be featured as part of the Fabulous Fox Water Trail website, fabulousfoxwatertrail.org, which includes maps, safety information and suggested itineraries, city documents said. Links will be provided to cultural and historical sites in Elgin for those who visit the city.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.