Over the past 6 years (1988–1993), we have examined the effects of soil temperature, soil moisture, site fertility, and nitrogen fertilization on the consumption of atmospheric CH4by temperate forest soils located at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts. We found that soil temperature is an important controller of CH4consumption at temperatures between −5° and 10°C but had no effect on CH4consumption at temperatures between 10° and 20°C. Soil moisture exerts strong control on CH4consumption over a range of 60 to 100% water‐filled pore space (% WFPS). As moisture increased from 60 to 100% WFPS, CH4consumption decreased from 0.1 to 0 mg CH4‐C m−2h−1because of gas transport limitations. At 20 to 60% WFPS, site fertility was a strong controller of CH4consumption. High‐fertility sites had 2 to 3 times greater CH4consumption rates than low‐fertility sites. Nitrogen‐fertilized soils (50 and 150 kg NH4NO3‐N ha−1yr−1) had annually averaged CH4consumption rates that were 15 to 64% lower than annually averaged CH4consumption by control soils. The decrease in CH4consumption was related to both the years of application and quantity of nitrogen fert