In Canada�s Western Boreal Plain, catchment runoff is typically low but spatially variable. Localized landscape soil and vegetation cover types, along with the hydrophysical properties of underlying glacial deposits and regional slopes, are important controls for the partitioning of precipitation into runoff, evapotranspiration, and soil water storage. Hence, different soil hydraulic properties and layering control water storage and runoff potential and influence the volume and timing of runoff generated from forested landforms. Hydrologic interactions between forestlands and adjacent wetlands were characterized and related to observations of small-scale (headwater) catchment runoff dynamics across five wetland-dominated headwater catchments within the Stony Mountain Headwater Catchment Observatory (SMHCO) south of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Water table configurations indicated varying exchanges among forested hillslopes and adjacent wetland systems. Soil layering of sharply contrasting hydraulic properties between forest floor organic mossy soil and the underlying mineral soil layers provides evidence of enhanced lateral runoff generation potential from forests. Catchment runoff was controlled by the hydrological functioning of the dominant wetland type within the catchment, along with storm dynamics, antecedent conditions and hillslope-wetland connections. Resultant runoff coefficients were variable across the SMHCO, with catchments receiving more rainfall than the nearby climate station. Runoff from Stony Mountain contributed directly to streamflow in regional rivers and tributaries of the Athabasca River, indicating that Boreal Uplands can have an important yet poorly characterized impact on freshwater generation within the otherwise sub-humid Boreal Plain.