 Hi there, we're here at New Frontiers 2016 in Aroha Valley and we're here with Lou Santsen, the Director-General of the Department of Conservation. Lou, do you want to tell us a little bit about what the department does? Well we look after a third in New Zealand. New Zealand prides itself on putting aside a third of the country for nature. We are, the biggest issues for New Zealand are pests and climate change and really it's about killing things for conservation. Right, so why is it that the pest control is so important for New Zealand? Well New Zealand's a country of birds, you know, we're the last discovered, the loneliest, the loveliest, the land bridges got broken millions of years ago and birds occupy the upper niche of our whole ecosystem. But in the last 150 years we've bought in all these pests, possums, mustalids, rats, stoats that are doing so much damage and climate change just gives them all an edge. We have warmer winters, we've got our wilding pine problem so we're really facing two battles. One have introduced pests and one of these guys getting an edge through warmer climate. Right, so we're actually seeing the problem exacerbated at the moment with the climate problems at the same time as we're trying to tackle these challenges with pest control? Yeah exactly, we're seeing things like a Norwegian rat that used to be in the bush now out in the tussock lands predating on some of our birds that live on braided rivers. We're seeing wilding pines, pines that were suppressed by our cold winters now starting to expand across our landscapes. Right, so with this work that the department is doing how does this impact on everyday kiwis and the experiences they have in nature? So what we're creating here is really a movement, a call to arms that this is a battle. This is about New Zealand, this is about our national identity and New Zealand nature is such a big part of what we are as a country. It's on our money, it's on our passports. We wake up every morning to a bird call with our radio station. People love these birds, they want to save them. We've done so much damage, we've got to turn it round. So this is about a vision of predator-free New Zealand. This is reclaiming our nature and keeping these pests at bay. Sure, so is there things that people can specifically do in their area to get involved in this type of work? Well all over the country we've got groups every weekend, we've got something like 15,000 people out there running stout lines, possum lines, taking out wilding pines. It's really how we can help them and their interests. We've got farmers putting in good nature, self-repeating traps in their patch of bush to bring back Bellbird, to bring back Tui, to bring back Kiwi. In every community there are people doing this and we're so proud of it and every community in New Zealand has a group doing something in this space. That's fantastic to hear. Any particular favourite spots of your own to get outdoors in New Zealand? Well I'm from the west coast of the South Island, a place called Hukatika. I just passionately love that place. I love some of those big, wide-open landscapes in the Mackenzie Country and Central Otago. But Central North Island has some real magic too. Those sacred mountains of Tongarero and Ruopei who, those magical rivers around there, some of the cycleways we're building. There's special places everywhere in the country. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks very much for coming along and chatting with us. Cheers.