<![CDATA[Watershed rehabilitation programs carried out under Indonesia's Forest Area Utilization Permit (Persetujuan Penggunaan Kawasan Hutan, PPKH) obligation are currently evaluated using short-term structural indicators. Meanwhile, functional recovery is rarely assessed explicitly, particularly in landscapes dominated by Imperata cylindrica. This case study evaluated structural and functional recovery in the 139-ha Poleang watershed rehabilitation area, Bombana Regency, Southeast Sulawesi, three years after the rehabilitation intervention began. Vegetation dynamics were analyzed using a 1995-2026 Landsat NDVI time series, while hydrological function recovery was estimated through the surface runoff coefficient using Cook's method. The pre-intervention NDVI trend was positive but not statistically significant (Sen's Slope = 0.00261/yr; Z = 1.44; p = 0.1486). The actual post-intervention NDVI (0.803) nominally exceeded the pre-intervention trend projection but remained below the mature forest reference value (0.853). The surface runoff coefficient in 2026 is estimated to have decreased slightly from 64.85% to 64.71%, with a maximum potential reduction of only 6.79% under a full canopy cover scenario (C = 58.06%). The structural recovery achievement (32.05%) far exceeded the functional recovery achievement (2.12%), indicating a recovery lag in watershed rehabilitation. These findings suggest that evaluation frameworks for program success that rely solely on structural indicators risk failing to capture the dynamics of functional watershed recovery, highlighting the need for a phased evaluation design that extends the functional monitoring window beyond the current three-year implementation period.]]>
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