Gilboa Fossil Forest, near the Gilboa Dam in New York, preserves petrified tree trunks from the Devonian period and is regarded as one of the oldest known forests. Brought to wider attention in the 1920s when water supply construction uncovered large fossilized stumps standing upright in the ground, it has since been a major site for paleobotanical study. The remains are believed to come from one of Earth’s first forests and from a crucial period of afforestation. Some fossils are the only known survivors of their type, giving the site both local landmark status and global scientific importance.