dear or not?

[Iwanna]

Whether the remarkable growth of organized camping means the eventual death of the more independent kind is hard to say. Municipalities naturally want to secure the campers' site fees and other custom. Police are wary of itinerants who cannot be traced to a recognized camp boundary or to four walls. But most probably it will all depend upon campers themselves: how many heath fires they cause; how much litter they leave; in short, whether or not they wholly alienate landowners and those who live in the countryside. Only good scouting is likely to preserve the freedoms so dear to the heart of the eternal Boy Scout.

I don't know exactly how to grasp the highlighted sentence, which of the following two is closer to its meaning?

1. Freedoms are not so dear to an eternal Boy Scout, but good scouting can make them dearer.

2. Freedoms are very dear to an eternal Boy Scout, but he will be losing them if scouting is bad.

furthermore, i am not quite clear with this paragraph, what points does the author make? why does he mention the Boy Scout? does he agree more with the organized camping than the independent one, or otherwise? which kind of camping do the Municipalities and police prefer, the organized one or the independent one?

[Ralf]

Hi Iwanna,

Here's my reading - 'Only informing (reconnaissance and security + educational advertising) will prevent people from spoiling intangible assets (or core values) that are commonly associated with boy scouts'.
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[Iwanna]

the whole passage is about holiday camping, the paragraph posted above comes at the end of it.

[Ralf]

Boy scouts usually camp out in the summer, hence the pun.
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