Although Merloyd’s ancestors lived in remote parts of Michigan and Nova Scotia, she grew up in suburbs and cities in Massachusetts. Her imagination about wilderness was sparked in high school when reading Thomas Hardy, a British novelist, describing deep, dark forests and wooded countryside. That curiosity grew into a love for wild places when she had children and regularly took them to visit Massachusetts Audubon wildlife sanctuaries. Eventually they began taking family trips to a rustic lodge in Nova Scotia, and loved the forest there so much that she eventually bought land nearby and built a cabin of her own with the help of a local canoe outfitter.

Merloyd wanted to protect that land in a wild state, but at the time there was no non-profit that could make such an international land transaction occur. Luckily, the American Friends of Canadian Conservation was founded in 2006, and she became one of the first people to work with them to protect land. Her land is now wilderness protected by a Nova Scotia Nature Trust easement.

By that time, Merloyd was already working with Keith Ross, Annie Faulkner, Rick Van de Poll, Nancy Smith, Tom Butler, Jim Northup, and Daryl Burtnett to found Northeast Wilderness Trust. “There’s more and more population and development pressure on wild places,” Merloyd explained of her motivation to help found the Wilderness Trust, as well as to protect her own land. “Wild land does not need to be managed. We need the clean air and water that it provides. Beyond that, wild land has its own intrinsic value, not just to serve human needs.”