Established in 1932 due to uncontrolled overlogging, fire and flooding, the forest originally consisted of ; however, only were federally owned, while the remaining within the national forest boundary were not federally owned or administered. s of 2011[ [update]], the forest boundaries included , of which were federally owned and administered. GMNF is one of only two national forest areas in New England, the other area being the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire.