In May of 2024, a barrier-removal monitoring site was established on Sprout Brook at the Sprout Brook dam in the Town of Cortlandt (Westchester County). The dam was built around 1964 to raise water levels necessary to create an adjacent swimming area for the town. This swimming recreational area ceased use around 2004 and was converted into sports fields around 2008, however the original dam remained intact. Nearly two decades of neglect resulted in the dam structure becoming severely dilapidated and silt and woody debris began filling in the upstream reach. Interest in removing the dam was vocalized by local citizens, the Town of Cortlandt, Westchester County, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC), and conservation groups such as the Hudson Valley Stream Conservancy (HVSC) to both eliminate a costly maintenance and liability issue for the town and restore aquatic connectivity and ecological resilience within the lower Hudson Estuary. Sprout Brook was recommended to NYS Water Resources Institute (WRI) as a barrier monitoring site by NYDEC and HVSC. Sprout Brook represents WRI’s ninth barrier removal study site within the Hudson River estuary to date. The Sprout Brook dam’s decades old barrier impeded sediment and nutrient transport, organism passage, and hydraulic patterns. While the size of the dam did not create a traditionally large upstream impoundment, the hydraulic interruption created a pooled habitat with reduced water velocities and fine sediment deposition behind the dam. The goal of these WRI ecological monitoring projects is to evaluate the effectiveness dam removals have in restoring aquatic connectivity, biological integrity, ecosystem functioning, and water quality metrics within their vicinity. Monitoring efforts allow project partners to understand the biological, habitat, and physical responses to dam removals and provide quantitative data to demonstrate stream improvement, while also setting realistic expectations for removal efforts across varying landscape context settings. Monitoring efforts by WRI have documented rapid recovery of the stream ecosystem within three years after dam removal on E. Branch Wappingers creek (Dietrich et al, 2025). Contrastingly, WRI research reports of pre-removal data at Maiden Lane Dam on Furnace Brook demonstrate static levels of moderate to severe biological impairment during a seven-year look-back period. Documenting the ecological conditions surrounding Sprout Brook dam aid in advancing conservation priorities by identifying existing bottlenecks to success as well as areas of greatest restoration potential. Conservation priorities within the Hudson estuary include efforts to improve natural spawning success of native sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) and river herrings (Alosa spp.), allowing upstream passage for juvenile American glass eels (Anguilla rostra), and improve conditions for local freshwater mussel recruitment (i.e. Pyganodon cataracta, Elliptio complanata, Anodonta implicata). Each of the stated conservation priorities would benefit from unobstructed passage restoration and reach-level habitat improvement. Demonstrations of successful connectivity restoration projects that improve ecosystem function attributes build positive momentum among stakeholders and public perception for future aquatic connectivity efforts. Local removal advocacy peaked during the prior few years, and Sprout Brook dam was demolished in mid-November 2024 which reopened 1.2 miles of stream habitat to organisms migrating upstream from the Hudson River.