Gallinas National Forest was established as the Gallinas Forest Reserve by the U.S. Forest Service on November 5, 1906 to protect 78,480 acres (317.6 km2) of land in the Gallinas Mountains NW of Corona, New Mexico. The area became a National Forest on March 4, 1907. On July 2, 1908 the area was transferred to Lincoln National Forest, a forest area SE of Corona. In 1958 the Gallinas forest area was transferred to the Cibola National Forest, where it became a part of the Mountainair Ranger District, headquartered in Mountainair, New Mexico.