<p>The responses of tree growth to climate change are highly divergent even within the same species because of the ecological context of their microhabitats. Coarse woody debris, which acts as nurse logs, is an essential microhabitat for trees in subboreal forests. However, little is understood about how nurse logs may alter the response of tree growth to climate change. In this study, we used the interannual branch length over 10–14 years as a proxy for long-term interannual tree growth and compared the correlations with various interannual macroclimate variables for <i>Abies sachalinensis</i> saplings that regenerated either on coarse woody debris (CWD saplings) or those that regenerated from soil (SOIL saplings) in a subboreal forest. While there was a negative relationship between the variation in interannual growth and the maximum temperature of the previous year in both microhabitats, the slope of the relationship was steeper for the CWD saplings. Furthermore, while the positive relationships between the variation in interannual growth and the maximum snow depth of the previous year were significant in both microhabitats, the slope of the relationship was steeper for the CWD saplings. These results indicate that the predicted increase in maximum air temperature and decrease in snow can have more severe negative effects on the growth of conifers regenerated from nurse logs than those from soil. Considering that more than 90% of the saplings of evergreen conifers regenerate from logs in northern Hokkaido, our results provide a warning of the decline in evergreen conifers under the expected future climate in subboreal forests.</p>