WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is quietly negotiating with a handful of California farmers who say San Joaquin River restoration efforts damage their land east of Los Banos.

WASHINGTON – California officials and the Obama administration on Thursday strongly objected to a politically divisive bill that blocks San Joaquin River restoration efforts, casting the bill's long-term prospects into doubt.

Negotiations have begun to possibly push back the December 2012 deadline for re-establishing salmon in the San Joaquin River, federal officials said Tuesday in Fresno.

Reviving chinook salmon on the San Joaquin River will cost more than $20 million – which may sound like a lot of money for 40,000 fish. But this rare project will take years of work, scientists say.

A 26-ton trencher this week ripped up a stretch of land on Jim Nickel's tomato fields as part of a $250,000 fix for a seepage problem he blames on the federal restoration of the San Joaquin River. And he may be stuck with the bill.

Biology students are simulating a river at Fresno State to conduct key fish studies for the San Joaquin River restoration.

Federal officials have delayed a big boost in water releases this month for the San Joaquin River restoration. Farmers say it's because similar high flows in spring caused seepage damage to crops.

Swept along by a drought-busting winter, the San Joaquin River restoration is getting good reviews at the end of its first year -- even from one vocal farm critic.

The San Joaquin River has continued to flow to the Pacific Ocean throughout the first summer after an ambitious restoration effort began, sending a powerful signal about the project's potential for success.

The San Joaquin River is now flowing from Friant Dam to the Pacific Ocean, reaching the first milestone in a plan to bring back Chinook salmon. The river's restoration should achieve another major goal this summer -- a continuous run of water to the ocean even during dry months.

Over the next month, federal officials will quadruple water releases from Friant Dam as part of the San Joaquin River restoration.

The bed of San Joaquin River sits dry near Los Banos and Highway 152.

Over the last six decades, public access hasn’t meant much along the San Joaquin River on Fresno County’s west side. Who cares about boating, fishing or swimming in a dry river?