Abstract <p>Information regarding the natural recovery of ground-dwelling invertebrate communities following reductions in industrial pollution remains fragmentary. Assemblages of epigeic arachnids (spiders and harvestmen) and ground beetles in the southern taiga spruce-fir forests have been analyzed in two sites: a background (control) site and a site polluted by long-term emissions from the Middle Ural Copper Smelter. Two periods were compared: one with relatively high emission rates (2005) and another after near-complete emission cessation beginning in 2010 (2018). The hypothesis that the differences between the sites diminished in the second period was tested. The total activity density, species richness, taxocene structure, and the abundance of groups identified by ecological traits (body size; moisture, stratum, and habitat preferences; hunting strategy for arachnids, and mobility and feeding preferences for ground beetles) have been assessed. The hypothesis has not been confirmed: differences persist between the studied areas in total abundance, species richness, and taxocene structure. However, some signs of recovery have been observed in arachnid assemblages, including a shift towards “linyphiidization” (i.e., replacement of Lycosidae with Linyphiidae), an increase in harvestmen abundance, and the appearance of species previously recorded only in the background forests. However, such signs were absent in the ground beetle assemblages: taxocene features characteristic of polluted areas remained unchanged, including an increased proportion of mixo-phytophages and the absence of large-sized species.</p>