To establish the major controls on N2O consumption by forest soils, we conducted laboratory incubations of 16 samples from four soil types, two organic and two mineral, varying in overlying forest vegetation (sugar maple, American beech and eastern hemlock). The fastest potential consumption of N2O occurred under anoxic conditionswith little soil nitrate and under elevated headspaceN2O concentration. Potential N2O consumption rates were fastest in organic soils under hemlock and beech trees (111 and 75 ng N2O-Ng−1 d−1, respectively) compared to mineral soils under beech and maple trees (45 and 41 ng N2O-N g−1 d−1). Organic soils showed faster N2O consumption rates than mineral soils, possibly due to larger organic C levels and higher C:N ratios. Acetylene treatment confirmed that denitrification was the process underlyingN2Oconsumption. These results suggest that soils regularly consume N2O with varying magnitude, most likely in anoxic microsites throughout the soil profile and that the potential for N2O consumption is larger in organic than in mineral forest soils.