As an outdoors writer and editor, Bill Burton's coverage of the Chesapeake Bay has earned him two Pulitzer Prize nominations.

The National Association of Sportswriters and Broadcasters named the Riviera Beach resident Maryland's Sportswriter of the Year in the 1970s. He was the first outdoors writer to ever win that award, typically reserved for reporters covering football or other major league sports.

Plenty of other honors round out the resume of Mr. Burton, who now writes for the Maryland Gazette. He struggles to recall all of them.

"I don't even look at them anymore," said Mr. Burton, who at 82 likes to describe...