Paired watershed studies provide valuable scientific understanding of the effects of disturbance on aquatic resources. Geographic information system (GIS) tools, combined with principal components and cluster analyses, were used to develop a landscape classification of forested headwater basins in order to support these paired watershed studies. Spatial and statistical analyses were applied to landform, geologic texture, forest cover, and climate variables that describe the biophysical and climatic setting of forested headwater catchments (300 – 58,000 km2) in western Oregon. Cluster analysis isolated 5 groups that account for major differences in environmental conditions across the landscape, but have a large ratio of among to within group dissimilarity. The first and second principal component axes correlate most strongly to differences in slope and elevation, and the percent coniferous tree cover and past harvest, respectively.