Over the last half-century the Strait of Georgia in the northern Salish Sea has warmed at roughly three times the global average, making it an important region in which to assess historical changes to nearshore habitat and to make inferences about potential future community shifts in other regions of the Northeast Pacific. Modern sea surface temperatures in the summer frequently rise above 18°C, a critical temperature threshold for kelp gametophytes, and even above 21°C, a critical threshold for adult kelp sporophytes. In such rapidly warming areas, comparisons of historical and modern environmental conditions can provide key insights about climate change impacts on kelp forests and associated communities, as well as future climate change effects in similar kelp forests that have not yet warmed to the same extent. However, without accurate long-term historical baselines, we are limited to understanding only the most recent conditions, like marine heatwaves, and how they have affected kelp forests communities in temperate waters, giving an incomplete view of long-term climate change impacts.