Tech magnate’s controversial Big Sur wedding generates wave of conservation grants.

Looks like the notorious Sean Parker wedding has a fairy-tale ending.

Sixteen months ago, the Napster cofounder and former Facebook president made national headlines for his lavish Big Sur wedding, which violated the California Coastal Act. Now he and his wife, Alexandra Parker, have awarded almost $1.4 million of a $2.5 million Coastal Commission settlement to conservation and environmental education projects in the Big Sur area.

The Parkers married June 1, 2013, at a forested campground at Ventana Inn & Spa. They formed an LLC to manage the wedding and spent millions turning the redwood grove into a medieval-style fantasy set.

But their team overlooked one important detail: a coastal development permit for the construction. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the Parkers, Ventana Inn was sitting on a six-year-old Coastal Act violation of its own: the unpermitted closure of its public campground.

In a settlement with the Coastal Commission, Parker agreed to pay $2.5 million toward Big Sur conservation and coastal-access projects. Ventana Inn settled separately, agreeing to a slate of public-access improvements.

On Oct. 2, the Coastal Commission announced the first Parker grants:

• $345,000 for Save the Redwoods League’s rehabilitation of the Pfeiffer Falls Trail, which was damaged in the 2008 Basin Complex Fire;

• $250,000 for Ventana Wildlife Society’s outdoor programming for underserved youth;

• $200,000 for California State University’s initiative connecting marginalized children, youth and their families with the Monterey County coast;

• $185,000 for Ventana Wilderness Alliance’s trail restoration and maintenance in the Silver Peak Wilderness;

• $184,000 for Rancho Cielo’s quarterly camping trips for at-risk youth;

• $75,000 for Big Sur Charter School’s coastal education programs;

• $75,000 for Coastwalk California, a collaborative mapping platform for the planned Coastal Trail; and

• $75,000 for California Coastal Conservancy’s trail improvements for Garrapata State Park.

Alena Porte, education coordinator for Ventana Wildlife Society, says the Parker grant will allow VWS to hire a new staffer and buy a new van, expanding its education programs by 300 underserved youth annually for four years.

“It’s wonderful we were able to benefit from this,” she says. “These kids don’t have the financial means to access these programs.”

Parker spokesman Michael Holland says the Parkers and commission staff will decide how to allocate the remaining $111,000 in available grant funding.

Another $1 million from the settlement, according to Coastal Commission Enforcement Analyst John Del Arroz, is being held in a separate remediation account, administered by the California Coastal Conservancy, for other Monterey County conservation projects.

Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, a former Coastal Commissioner, says the Parker grants are the constructive outcome of a bad situation.

“Oftentimes when fines like this happen, the money doesn’t get back into the community,” he says. “To be able to put money back into the same community that cares so much about coastal resources is a very positive thing.”