Plant cover within salt marshes provides habitat and ameliorates harsh abiotic conditions. Active planting of restoration sites is one method used to establish plant cover. In this study, we evaluated structural and functional recovery of a non-vegetated berm in Brookhurst Marsh, Huntington Beach, California using two active restoration strategies, planting poly culture of nine common marsh species and mono culture treatments of Sarcocornia pacifica (pickleweed) in a randomized block design. Although monocultures reached our management goal first, both treatments reached 100% plant cover after one year and then remained constant throughout the rest of the study. Polycultures had greater habitat complexity and lateral spread than monocultures. Both treatments provided physical conditions sufficient to support similar macrofaunal communities. This study suggests plant community composition plays a significant role in habitat complexity and lateral spread in plant community regeneration and can be manipulated as a restoration tool to achieve management goals.