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Fen construction has recently been tested in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada in an effort to return peatlands to the post-mining landscape. Understanding the drivers of organic matter decomposition in constructed fens will improve our capacity to evaluate the return of ecosystem function while also helping to inform management activities that could optimize peat accumulation. At a four year old constructed fen, we measured the decomposition of Carex aquatilis and Juncus balticus tissue over one year along with soil physical and chemical properties including concentrations of phenolic compounds in pore water, and potential phenol oxidase and hydrolase enzyme activities. Results were compared to three reference fens. Averaged across both species, decomposition of aboveground plant tissue was significantly slower at the constructed fen than the reference fens. Across the reference fens, a …