Evaluating Wildfire-Induced Changes in a Water-Yield Ecosystem Service at the Local Scale Using the InVEST Model

This study evaluates the applicability of the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) model for assessing wildfire-induced changes in water-related ecosystem services at a localized scale. Wildfires significantly alter hydrological processes by reducing vegetation cover, which in turn affects water-yield dynamics. To quantify these changes, we applied the InVEST annual water-yield model to a 4.95 km2 wildfire-affected area and validated its outputs against the physically based SWAT model. The study utilized Sentinel-2 imagery to create pre- and post-wildfire land cover maps, which served as key inputs for the InVEST model. The results showed a 7.05% increase in water yield after the wildfire. Validation using SWAT confirmed that InVEST could capture localized hydrological changes with accuracy. While InVEST simplifies hydrological processes by relying primarily on land cover data, it remains a valuable tool for rapid and low-resource assessments in wildfire-prone regions. This study highlights the potential of InVEST for rapid post-fire evaluations, offering a practical decision-support model for post-fire land and water resource management in the context of climate change.