Late Eocene strata at Little Pipestone, Montana, preserve paleosols and an undiverse but abundant trace fossil assemblage dominated by adhesive meniscate burrows placed into the ichnogenera Taenidium. The assemblage as a whole is most consistent with the Scoyenia ichnofacies. The reconstructed paleohydrological and paleoenvironmental setting that results from the combination of sedimentological, paleopedological, and ichnological data is of a seasonally desiccated, well-aerated floodplain characterized by low flood frequency and intensity, slow sediment accumulation rates, and an overall subhumid/semiarid climate very similar to a modern sagebrush steppe. This would represent the oldest documented sagebrush steppe ecosystem in Montana.

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