Do I need to put in a bronze tipped pushrod for the fuel pump in a crate 454HO? In other words, is this a typical steel hydraulic roller cam? Already have a melonized distributor gear just to be safe, but assumed I could just use an aftermarket hardened push rod.

i believe the GM crate motors are all designed to run a regular production pushrod.
i ran the 150,000 mile pushrod that was in the 87 Caprice 350 i used as a core to build my HOT cammed/vortec headed 355 and put about 20,000 miles on it, so i don't think you should have a problem. i also used a stock distributor gear and never saw any evidence at all of any wear to the cam or gear.

Do I need to put in a bronze tipped pushrod for the fuel pump in a crate 454HO? In other words, is this a typical steel hydraulic roller cam? Already have a melonized distributor gear just to be safe, but assumed I could just use an aftermarket hardened push rod.

The GM recommended rod part# was a regular run of the mill rod, which I ran for years on my 454HO w/no issues