The New York State Water Resources Institute (WRI) established the Youngs Mill Dam barrier monitoring site on Black Creek during the summer of 2022, which also corresponded with initial expansion of WRI barrier monitoring efforts within the Great Lakes basin of New York State (NYS). Prior to 2022, WRI barrier monitoring efforts were focused within the Hudson Estuary portion of NYS. The Youngs Mill Dam was among three barriers chosen for ecological monitoring within the Little Salmon River basin of Lake Ontario. The other barriers chosen for monitoring were the Little Salmon Dam and the Ames Mill Dam, both being situated on the Little Salmon River mainstem, while Black Creek is a main tributary of the Little Salmon River which enters the mainstem below the Ames Mill Dam.