Podostemum ceratophyllum “Hornleaf riverweed”, henceforth referred to as Podostemum, is a foundation species in fast-flowing Appalachian rivers. Podostemum is a benthic epilithic macrophyte known to provide habitat for macroinvertebrates and fish, and previous studies have found significant reductions in invertebrate abundance when Podostemum has been removed or when stem length is reduced. Similarly, multiple species of darters and mad toms have been positively associated with Podostemum. While the plant appears to have declined substantially from its historic abundance, drivers of loss are unclear, which poses a major restoration challenge. Additionally, concerns over moving live plants between watersheds exist due to the possibility of transferring diseases or nuisance species. In order to better understand the effects of restoring Podostemum to rivers where the plant has been extirpated, we created artificial Podostemum substrates (APS) and deployed them into four rivers in the Appalachian Plateau of WV and PA. At each site, we deployed the APS for approximately six weeks, then collected all macroinvertebrates on the APS. Inverts were identified to family, assigned functional feeding groups (FFGs), and biomass was estimated. We found significant increases in macroinvertebrate abundance and biomass with increasing stem length of our APS. We also found increases in Collector-Gatherer FFG in APS compared to bare rock controls. Our results indicate that restoration of Podostemum could have positive impacts on macroinvertebrate abundance and biomass, and suggest that restoration of Podostemum into rivers where the plant has been extirpated may benefit the broader benthic community.