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Monocultural conifer plantations are often recognized as low quality habitats for most mammals, owing to the scarcity of understory plants. This paper presents a multifaceted assessment of conifer plantations as habitats of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) inhabiting an area of heavy snow cover in northern Japan. We evaluated habitat use by two macaque troops in cool-temperate forests, including conifer plantations, which are located in the Shirakami Mountains. Habitat use was classified into three behavioral categories; feeding, resting, and traveling. We directly observed two radio-tagged troops by using the scan sampling technique throughout the day during winter, which is the main bottleneck season in terms of food availability. At each sampling event, we recorded the location of different troops and the behavioral patterns of individuals. We then constructed suitability models for each of the three types …