Soil bacterial communities play a key role in the decomposition of soil organic matter and nutrient cycling, both of which are susceptible to the effects of climate change in the Arctic where large reservoirs of soil carbon are stored. This manuscript examines the long-term response of bacterial communities to predicted changes in climate by examining community and gene abundance shifts associated with an 18-year snowfence study site in Alaska. Using 16S rRNA sequencing in conjunction with a variety of physical and chemical soil properties, we examined how bacterial community structure and function associate with soil carbon and nitrogen content, and predict how soil organic matter decomposition might be affected by increased snow accumulation.